


The Closed Loop

by fellowshipofthefandoms



Category: Timeless (TV 2016)
Genre: And angst, F/M, Fix-It, Flynn is my garbage son, Lots of drama, Lucy is the boss, also rufus, and conflicting feelings, and nerdiness, but some bittersweetness, look I just... love Jiya more than anything, mostly happy endings, obvs, safe Rufus fic, so I go rly hard at it, this love triangle is the only love triangle I don't hate
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-15
Updated: 2018-08-30
Packaged: 2019-06-27 15:35:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 44,485
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15688338
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fellowshipofthefandoms/pseuds/fellowshipofthefandoms
Summary: { Connor looks as if he could faint from excitement. “This is the most fantastic thing I’ve ever seen. I can’t believe we are at the very epicenter of a self-fulfilling paradox.”“A paradox?” Christopher says skeptically, “shouldn’t that be by definition impossible?”“These two,” Connor says gesturing to Future-Wyatt and Future-Lucy, “knew they were going to come back and what time to come back to because they remember it from back when they were these two,” he points back at Wyatt and Lucy. “And in the future, Wyatt and Lucy will know exactly what to do because these two came back and showed them. One exists because the other exists because the other exists and so on and so forth into infinity. Self-fulfilling paradox.”“I’m not going to pretend that made any sense,” Wyatt says. }Lucy and Wyatt cross back over their own timeline in order to save Rufus. Complications ensue.





	1. Part One: The Plan

**Author's Note:**

> This is a fic continuing directly after the end of the Timeless Season 2 finale. Thanks one hundred million times to my beautiful friend Isabelle who is my favorite Timeless stan (and also one of my favorite people). She provided me with some amazing insights and edits. This fic would not be half of what it is without her.

“You guys want to get Rufus back or what?”

 

For a few seconds it seems like no one will be able to recover from the shock. Jiya, Connor, and Agent Christopher all can’t seem to stop looking between the two sets of Lucy and Wyatt as if trying to somehow convince themselves of what they are seeing. Lucy and Wyatt, mouths agape, stare at their future selves with a cross between wonder and horror.

 

Flynn, however, only has eyes for the Lucy that just stepped out of the new and improved Lifeboat. “Oh,” he says, softly, but loud enough for everyone to hear amidst their stunned silence.

 

Christopher is the first one to at least marginally recover, and as she steps forward the other Lucy and Wyatt jump down from their Lifeboat to meet her.

 

“It’s good to see you, Denise,” future-Lucy says with a smile.

 

“Once my head stops spinning maybe I will be able to say the same. Could you two please explain to me what the hell is going on?” Christopher replies, her voice steadying once there is only one each of Lucy and Wyatt in her sight.

 

Before either of them can reply, Connor pipes up, sounding giddy “I can’t believe you figured it out, or I figured it out, rather,” he pauses for a moment, “Or Jiya figured it out, I suppose,” he amends.

 

Future-Wyatt smiles at him through his beard. “You did, yeah. It just took a few years and a lot of setbacks. A few explosions here and there.”

 

“I knew this was coming in some form or another, but I didn’t think it would be so… unnerving,” Flynn muses.

 

Christopher turns her gaze on him, already completely exasperated by the situation, “What do you mean you ‘knew this was coming’?”

 

Flynn strides forward and gestures at future-Lucy with his good arm. “This is the Lucy who came to me with the journal before all this started.” He turns back to the other Lucy, “I told you, you age well,” he says with a crooked smile.

 

“Age well? I barely look any older!” Both Lucys say at the same time with the same inflection. The room freezes once more.

 

Future-Lucy looks sheepish. “Sorry, that’s going to happen a few times. Although we are separated by a few years, we’re still the same person. Believe me, I _know_ it’s more than a bit jarring.”

 

Flynn is laughing. “Oh, I didn’t think this would be so much  _fun_.”

 

The room ignores him.

 

“Okay,” Lucy says slowly, “Creepy _The Shining_ twins stuff aside, what do you mean by this is going to happen a few times?”

 

Future-Lucy and Future-Wyatt share a look. Connor gasps audibly in excitement. “Oh my god, you two can _remember_ this! Do you have the whole memory or are you experiencing it real-time with our Lucy and Wyatt? Does this mean you already know exactly what all of us are going to say and do? Oh, this opens up so many new possibilities for the nature of time and memory.”

 

He looks like he’s about to go on, but Christopher stops him with a raised hand. “Is he right?” she asks, “Is all of this a memory for you two because it happened to your past selves as well?”

 

“He’s right. We know what will happen because we’ve already been through it once,” Future-Wyatt says.

 

The other Wyatt manages to shake off his shock and squint at himself across the room. “How is that possible if you are just arriving here now? This hasn’t happened before.”

 

Future-Lucy turns her attention on him and replies, “But it _has_ , don’t you see? It’s the same concept as our instantly changed perception when we change something in history, except now it’s happening to us in real time. We changed the past by coming here and meeting ourselves, and therefore we remember that change.”

 

Connor looks as if he could faint from excitement. “This is the most fantastic thing I’ve ever seen. I can’t believe we are at the very epicenter of a self-fulfilling paradox.”

 

“A paradox?” Christopher says skeptically, “shouldn’t that be by definition impossible?”

 

“These two,” Connor says gesturing to Future-Wyatt and Future-Lucy, “knew they were going to come back and what time to come back to because they remember it from back when they were these two,” he points back at Wyatt and Lucy. “And in the future, Wyatt and Lucy will know exactly what to do because these two came back and showed them. One exists because the other exists because the other exists and so on and so forth into infinity. Self-fulfilling paradox.”

 

“I’m not going to pretend that made _any_ sense,” Wyatt says.

 

“I got as much out of that as from our Connor’s explanation of it,” Future-Wyatt adds. The two stare at each other distrustfully for a moment before both shaking their heads and looking anywhere but at themselves.

 

“Speaking of ‘your’ team,” Flynn enters into the conversation again, “Where am I? Prison? 1764? _Dead?_ ”

 

Future-Lucy turns to him and there is a flash of something in her eyes before she controls her expression and replies. “You, or our you, rather, is already back in Chinatown mapping out the situation in order to best manage the plan.”

 

“And where is Jiya?” Lucy asks, “How are you two even here without a Lifeboat pilot? I didn’t think autopilot was really an option for time travel.”

 

There is a pause, and everyone draws breath waiting for the response. Jiya, from her spot in the back of the group where she had been standing and absorbing the situation, speaks up for the first time. “I’m not with them because I’m not a part of the team anymore.”

 

Future-Wyatt and Future-Lucy are conspicuously quiet as the rest of the room turns to stare at Jiya in confusion.

 

“What do you mean?” Christopher asks.

 

“And how on earth would you know?” Connor adds.

 

Jiya looks at them all and sighs heavily as if there’s a weight on her chest. “I decided, pretty much the moment I realized Rufus was-” she cuts off, voice breaking, “When I realized Rufus was dead that I couldn’t do this anymore. Not without him. I can’t keep helping the team and traveling in time and trying to stop evil without him. I’m sorry but I can’t.”

 

No one has anything to say to that, so after a beat of silence Future-Lucy cuts in again. “Jiya left, or leaves, I guess, after this last mission. Connor and the training videos we still have helped me learn how to pilot the Lifeboat, and Wyatt and Garcia know the basics, too.”

 

“ _Garcia?”_ Wyatt and Flynn say at the same time and then glance at each other with matching looks of irritation.

 

Future-Lucy sighs, “We’ve been a team for over five years now, I think we can properly say we’re on a first name basis.”

 

Future-Wyatt clears his throat, “ _Anyway_ , we did our best without Jiya, and her and Connor keep in touch. Her insight was invaluable in the process of upgrading the Lifeboat, but yes, she did, or does, leave the team.”

 

Lucy turns to look at her, “Jiya…” she starts, but Jiya cuts her off.

 

“This is my decision, Lucy. I know you all care about me, and so I need you to respect that, please.”

 

“You have every right to leave and take the time you need, Jiya,” Christopher says gently.

 

“But we will need you to stay with us for just a while longer,” Future-Lucy says apologetically, “This mission is all hands on deck.”

 

Jiya nods and shrugs, “I kind of figured with the whole creating a paradox thing.”

 

“So, what’s the plan? _Is_ there a plan?” Wyatt asks, his voice still tense.

 

“If these two already know everything that’s going to happen I have to assume there is one,” Connor says absentmindedly.

 

“We will fill you in on the plan, but our Lifeboat needs to charge because between dropping our Flynn back in Chinatown and jumping to here we need a lot of juice. The Lifeboat can handle the paradox now, but it means we need a few more hours to charge it up,” Future-Wyatt says.

 

“We could also use some sleep,” Future-Lucy adds.

 

“I think we could all use some time to digest this before we move forward. Wyatt?” Christopher says.

 

“Yeah?” Both Wyatts reply simultaneously.

 

“ _Wyatt_.” Future-Lucy gives Future-Wyatt a look.

 

“Oh yeah,” he says, “In order to prevent that from happening too many times, you can just call me Logan.

 

“And you can call me El,” Future-Lucy adds.

 

“El?” Wyatt says, confused.

 

Future-Lucy shrugs, “’El’ like the first letter of Lucy.”

 

Future-Wyatt looks at her, obviously amused.

 

“What? I’ve never really had a nickname before,” El says indignantly.

 

“Okay…” Wyatt says slowly. He turns to Christopher expectantly.

 

“I was just going to say that you should bunk with Connor tonight so that _Logan_ and _El_ can take your room.” Lucy and Wyatt glance at each other and then quickly look away. “Unless you two object to rooming together,” Christopher says to Logan and El.

 

“No, we can bunk together. Thank you,” El says to her.

 

Everyone stands around in the awkward silence for a few excruciating seconds before Wyatt breaks it.

 

“I guess I’ll just… go and get my stuff then.” He turns on his heel and walks briskly away.

 

Lucy watches him walk away and says, equally as stilted, “I’m just going to… uh… go to my room,” and leaves, too.

 

Flynn takes another long look at El and wanders away without saying anything.

 

Jiya also slips away wordlessly, leaving Connor and Christopher with Logan and El in front of both of the Lifeboats.

 

Christopher looks them both up and down and levels her gaze on El. “Can we actually save Rufus? Bring him back from the dead? _Should_ we?” Her voice is hushed.

 

“We spent five years wrestling with that question even though we already knew that it was going to happen. In the end we realized that there was never any chance we could just leave Rufus there alone in the past, dead or alive. He’s family, and he deserved better,” El replies, her eyes filling with tears.

 

Only in that moment looking at her does Christopher realize that these two have spent years without Rufus, working tirelessly to reach this point. They both look so old.

 

“We can do it,” Logan says steadily.

 

“Are you able to tell us anything about our future?” Connor asks.

 

“We don’t really have much experience with this, but we don’t think it’s a good idea to tell you all too much. You have to wait and live through it anyway. We will fill you in on the necessary information, but no more than that,” he replies.

 

Connor nods. “I understand, though I would love to know how I manage to figure it all out.”

 

El smiles at him, “You’ll just have to wait and see.”

 

He smiles back at her and turns to leave the room in the same direction as Jiya.

 

“I guess I’ll see you two in the morning, if this hasn’t all been a crazy dream,” Christopher says.

 

“Good night, Denise,” El says. Christopher shakes her head as she walks away towards the exit.

 

Once the sound of her footsteps has receded, Logan turns to El and says, “Well, that went about as well as expected.”

 

El laughs. “Do you remember how you felt, the moment you realized you were looking at a different version of yourself?”

 

“I remember thinking I couldn’t believe you let me grow a beard.”

 

“Hey! I like your beard.”

 

“I know that _now_ , but back then I thought maybe you had made me sleep outside without a razor or working plumbing.”

 

El pushes his shoulder playfully. “You did not.”

 

Logan laughs, “No, I didn’t.”

 

They quiet down, both still chuckling a bit. “Do you remember what you said to me just before we showed up?” El says, her voice much more serious.

 

“How could I ever forget?” Logan replies softly.

 

They share a quiet moment, thinking about what their other selves are doing in separate rooms, right now and five years ago, and they set off together down the hall to Wyatt’s room to settle down for the night.

 

-

 

Lucy walks away from the nightmare that has become of their common room and shuts herself in the room she shares with Jiya, sitting down heavily on the bed. She takes a few deep breaths in a futile attempt to calm herself down, but nothing can soothe her frayed nerves.

 

Wyatt’s confession, so soon after Rufus’ death, shook her, and being faced with the impossibility of her and Wyatt’s future selves interfering in their own timeline leaves her feeling jittery and slightly sick to her stomach. Lucy sits with her thoughts, clenching her fists and jiggling her knees up and down until an idea on how to release some of her confusion and stress comes to her.

 

She gets off her cot and flips the blanket up onto the bed, so she can search under it. It is shockingly messy by her standards, but the unpredictability of her life in the bunker has made her much less concerned about keeping a clean house.

 

Lucy finds what she is looking for, knowing it was there but almost hoping it wasn’t. She doesn’t want to risk Jiya coming in and having to speak with her about everything. She can only think of one place where she will be at least mostly safe from interruption and awkward conversation, and she slips out of her room and practically runs down the hall in the hope that no one will be wandering around, particularly not her future self.

 

She slips into Flynn’s room and shuts the door tightly behind her, relieved that at least for the moment he hasn’t come back yet. She sits down on the chair in his room and holds the journal her mother gave her in her lap, the journal Flynn gave to her once he had no more use of it. Lucy had never opened the finished copy he gave her. It seemed like cheating in a way, and she was scared of what she would find on those pages.

 

For a moment she is curious whether or not the words she writes now will actually be the same as the ones she gave, or gives, to Flynn. She realizes with a self-depreciating chuckle that the appearance of her future self already answered that question. The words will be the same because she already wrote them and so on and so forth. Lucy uncaps her pen and starts writing.

 

After a couple of minutes, the door creaks open and Flynn comes in. He doesn’t seem surprised to see her, though he is obviously shaken by the events of the last hour. He catches sight of the journal in her lap and huffs out a breathless chuckle. “ _They came today_ ,” he quotes.

 

Lucy looks down at the words she wrote down moments before. _They came today._ She looks up at him, a bit baffled.

 

“I always wondered what that meant. You never explained it, not even at the end. I guess you didn’t want me to know crossing over my own timeline was possible,” he says.

 

“Or maybe I don’t because you just told me that right now,” she replies, a weak smile on her face.

 

Flynn gives her a withering look. “I’ve had quite enough of paradoxes for today, thank you very much.”

 

She laughs weakly and meets his eyes, seeing the touch of desperation there. He moves to sit down on his cot and lets out a deep sigh.

 

“Is it easier for you now, seeing her, or does it just make it all harder?” Lucy asks softly.

 

Flynn keeps his eyes on his lap. “I can see now how we get from here to there, the dots are starting to connect, but that doesn’t make seeing two of you any less of a headache.”

 

“I still can’t believe you told me I ‘age well’ when you met me from only a few years in the future,” Lucy says.

 

He meets her eyes, “I think we both know now that I wasn’t talking about you graying gracefully.”

 

She looks back and cocks her head to the side questioningly.

 

“Lucy,” Flynn says, “when you came to me years ago, you were wearing tactical gear, had three different concealed weapons, and you looked about ready to take down anyone in the bar who dared cross you. When we met again at the Hindenburg, I knew it was you instantly, but I also saw that you were a completely different person.”

 

She considers this for a moment and then smiles at him with tight lips. “I guess we’ll both have to wait and see.”

 

Flynn nods. “I’ll leave you to your writing then.” He picks up a novel from his bedside table and lays back, thumbing it open with one hand and beginning to read. Lucy keeps her eyes on him for a moment longer before returning to her writing, glad to have some peace and quiet.

 

She keeps writing until her hand cramps and her eyes start to droop. She hears a quiet snore and it shocks her out of her trance. Flynn has fallen asleep, his book resting open on his chest and his heels hanging off the bed. Lucy has the urge to take off his shoes and tuck him in, but it feels too intimate, and she feels too raw from the events of the day, so instead she gets up and slips out of his room as quietly as she can.

 

-

 

Jiya finds herself in one of the lesser-used rooms in the bunker filled with a few pieces of broken furniture and covered in dust. She walks over to one of the walls and leans back, slowly sliding down until she is sitting on the floor, hugging her knees to her chest.

 

A couple of tears squeeze out of the corners of her eyes as she deals with the conflicting emotions roiling around inside her.

 

She isn’t surprised when Connor comes in a few minutes later and sits down next to her. They sit in silence for a few moments, and she leans into his shoulder, comforted by his presence.

 

“What do you think of… all this?” Connor says, trying to best sum up the whirlwind they have just experienced.

 

Jiya thinks for a moment, unsure of how she is really feeling. “I just…” she starts, cutting herself off. After a beat she starts again, “I can’t stop thinking about the damage to time.”

 

Connor hums in understanding. “I know what you mean, you know I do, but I can’t help but think that the paradox answers all our questions and worries for us. We wouldn’t do this in the future if we knew it created irreparable damage to this or any timeline.”

 

“You mean _you_ wouldn’t do this,” Jiya says quietly.

 

“Jiya-”

 

“Connor, no. Don’t start that with me.”

 

He pulls back to look at her. When he speaks again his voice is a bit thick. “I don’t want to lose you, too. I can’t, Jiya.”

 

“But that’s just it. This is me making sure you don’t have to. I’m not going to be doing death-defying stunts through time and space anymore. I’ll just get a job at some tech company or nonprofit and try to repair what’s left of my life.”

 

“But what am I going to do without anyone who understands my genius?” Connor says.

 

It startles a laugh out of Jiya. “I will be just a phone call away, Connor.”

 

They sit in silence for a few minutes, shoulder to shoulder on the dusty ground.

 

“Do you think we could really save him?” Connor asks.

 

Jiya sighs, “I can’t get my hopes up, because having him die a second time might actually kill me.”

 

This time, neither of them break the silence, and they sit together until Jiya stands and helps Connor to his feet, and they both go to their rooms to try and get some sleep.

 

-

 

El and Logan come upon Wyatt’s room, but before they can enter they hear a sound from behind the door. Logan makes a move to open it but El stops him. “We should wait until he leaves.”

 

Logan looks back at her incredulously.

 

“Oh, come on, Wyatt, give him a break.”

 

“He’s _me_ , Lucy, I feel like I should have the right to give myself a hard time. Especially when I’ve been an idiot.” He looks away and paces a bit. El watches him, her gaze soft.

 

“Wyatt,” she says gently, “I know you. And I know the you that’s in that room right now, and I’m sure he is beating himself up more than anyone else ever could. You never were good at being gentle with yourself.”

 

Logan looks at her and sighs deeply. “I just wish I could go back to all the times I messed up and knock some sense into myself.”

 

“You know the rules,” El says.

 

“No selfish choices, no playing god, I know, I know,” Logan replies with a dismissive hand motion. “Fine, we can leave him alone.”

 

The two of them wait behind a corner until Wyatt emerges from the room with an armful of clothes and walks in the direction of Connor’s room. They hear a door slam and then they move out of their hiding spot and into their room.

 

“I don’t know why I expected it to look different,” Logan says.

 

“Well, you haven’t really made any effort at decorating in the last five years. Or cleaning for that matter.”

 

Logan scoffs at her and moves to pull apart the two twin beds that have been pushed together in the center of the room.

 

“What are you doing?” El asks.

 

“I’m separating the beds,” Logan replies.

 

“There’s only one blanket.”

 

“I’ll be fine without one.”

 

“Wyatt, we are not having this argument for the thousandth time. We have shared a bed before, and we sure as hell can now.”

 

Logan gives up on moving the beds. He smiles at her, “As long as you don’t hog the sheets.”

 

El picks up a pillow and hits him with it. “We both know who the cover-hog is here.”

 

They stare at each other for a few moments before breaking into laughter. Silence falls again, but they don’t break eye contact.

 

“I’m glad we made it here,” El murmurs.

 

Logan nods. “For a long time, I was sure we never would, even though I had seen it with my own eyes.”

 

“That’s not what I meant.”

 

Logan cocks his head to the side in confusion.

 

“The you and me that we just met are so broken and torn apart by heartbreak and grief they look like they can barely stand. We’ve come a long way since then.”

 

He smiles and looks down. “I’m glad we made it here, too.”

 

Neither of them speaks as they take off their shoes and pants. El climbs into the bed and lets out a deep breath, glad to finally be off her feet. Logan flips off the light and El feels the dip in the bed as he lays down next to her.

 

“Goodnight, Wyatt,” she whispers.

 

“Goodnight, Lucy,” he breaths in reply.

 

Sleep finds them quickly.

 

-

 

Lucy wakes up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat, escaping a nightmare filled with horrible images of Chinatown. She sits up and shakes her head in an effort to clear it, and she stands up and walks out the door quietly so as not to wake Jiya.

 

She walks into the kitchen, planning on brewing herself a mug of tea, and her heart leaps into her mouth when she comes face to face with her future self.

 

“Oh,” Lucy says, startled.

 

“Sorry,” El says, holding Lucy’s favorite mug in one hand, “Couldn’t sleep.”

 

“Yeah, me neither.” Lucy regards herself warily.

 

“I’ll just-” they both say, cutting off quickly.

 

“No, you first-” they say again in unison.

 

They both wait in tense silence for a few moments before Lucy can’t take it anymore. “How is this supposed to work?”

 

“I find it easiest to focus on other people and things, because thinking too hard about the paradox of meeting myself gives me the mother of all headaches,” El says, “Sorry to say it doesn’t really get easier to handle.”

 

Lucy sighs. “I was really hoping there was as easy fix for dealing with a universal imbalance.”

 

El chuckles. “We realized pretty early on that although traveling back in our own timeline was possible, it was advisable only when completely necessary and with minimal damage.”

 

“Damage?”

 

El pauses for a moment to organize her thoughts. “Connor could explain this better, but from what I understand changing our own timeline is doubly dangerous as altering history, to us, at least, because our lives are being revised moment to moment as we enact change upon ourselves. If we change too much, or damage the paradox, it could cause a spontaneous failure.”

 

“Spontaneous failure?” Lucy says, worry entering her tone.

 

“That’s the name Connor came up with for what would happen if we changed something here which made it so we never go back in the future.”

 

Lucy looks at her skeptically.

 

“Yeah it makes about that much sense to me, too,” El says, “But I suppose it would have to.”

 

“I keep forgetting that you are me, even though it’s like looking in a mirror. A really muscular mirror.”

 

“Training,” El says.

 

Lucy averts her eyes and shakes her head, feeling more confused than before.

 

“I can’t tell you much because it’s too dangerous, but you can ask me, if you want to,” El says softly.

 

Lucy glances up at herself.

 

“I know my own face. Go on, ask.”

 

“Do we all come out of this okay? Is it worth it to save Rufus?” Lucy says in a rush.

 

“I think it is worth it,” El says, her voice sad, “but there is a cost.”

 

Lucy nods, expecting this, “I’m guessing you can’t tell me what that cost is.”

 

El shakes her head.

 

“Rules,” they say in unison, as both an explanation and an expletive.

 

Lucy makes a move to leave, having had quite enough weird for one day, but El stops her. “Do you want me to make you a cup of tea?”

 

Lucy does still want one, but the thought of sitting with her future self because they both woke up in the middle of the night for the same reason and came to the kitchen to do the same thing is just too strange for her to handle right now. She shakes her head and makes a move to walk away, but she hesitates for just a moment.

 

“What is it?” El asks.

 

“I wish I had a better poker face,” Lucy grumbles.

 

“I know our poker face, too,” El says. She looks at Lucy expectantly.

 

Lucy starts hesitantly, “Everything is so messy right now, with Wyatt and even with Flynn. I just can’t see this going any way where we all make it out unscathed.”

 

El looks at her former self with kindness. “I know it doesn’t seem like anything can possibly be resolved, and I can’t tell you how it turns out, but it does all work itself out, in a way.”

 

Lucy nods, knowing that’s the best answer she’s going to get, and turns to go back to her bunk and sleep, her nightmare all but forgotten. El lets out a breath, trying to find room in her head for both of her memories of that conversation. She finished her tea and returns to bed, doing her best not to jostle Logan and hoping that her headache will ease with sleep, knowing it will not.

 

-

 

Denise arrives at the bunker in the morning half-expecting to discover the night before had all been a hallucination. She immediately runs into a heavily bearded Wyatt, and she pinches the bridge of her nose and sighs at the confirmation that the impossible is continuing to happen.

 

“Agent Christopher,” he says with a nod.

 

“Good morning, Logan,” she replies, already feeling a headache coming on, “Is anyone still asleep?”

 

“I don’t think so, but I might be wrong because everyone is working really hard on avoiding each other.”

 

Denise gives him a tight-lipped smile, a bit relieved that he is acknowledging how strange this is for everyone. “I’ll round them up. We should get down to planning.”

 

“Roger that, I’ll get Lucy, uh, I mean El.” Logan turns away and walks to Wyatt’s room.

 

Denise shakes her head and walks down the hallway. She knocks on Connor’s door and hears a muffled groan she recognizes as Connor waking up. Then, she goes over to Lucy and Jiya’s room, but there is no answer at the door.

 

She finds the two women standing around the island in the kitchen alongside Flynn and Wyatt. None of them look very well rested. “Good morning,” she says.

 

They all mumble some sort of reply and return to drinking their coffee or tea. Logan and El arrive soon after, wearing the same grungy clothes as the day before. Everyone visibly tenses, but Denise doesn’t think Logan and El are offended by it, if anything, they seem sympathetic.

 

“There’s something I probably should have mentioned yesterday, but we didn’t want to add on to the confusion,” El says, not bothering with a greeting. “We are all contained within a paradox currently, and our brains are all working tirelessly to try and make sense of it. That’s why you all have headaches that won’t go away. They’re time-aches, really.”

 

Flynn laughs. Everyone turns to look at him.

 

“What?” he says, “that was funny.”

 

“The longer we are all together and our minds have to actively process the paradox, the worse it will get,” Logan says.

 

Denise looks at the two of them, “So what you’re saying is that we should complete the mission and get you two back home as soon as possible.”

 

They nod in reply.

 

“Well alright then. What’s the plan?” Denise says, giving Logan and El the floor.

 

El takes a deep breath and starts, “The most important thing is preserving the timeline. We have to work to change as few things as possible while still saving Rufus.”

 

Logan cuts in, his voice gruff but businesslike, “That means Nicholas Keynes and Carol Preston still die, and Jessica and Emma both still escape.”

 

“Now wait a minute,” Flynn says, “You’re telling me we get another chance at killing some of the last remaining members of Rittenhouse, _including_ their only pilot, and we’re just going to let them go free?” His voice was filled with venom and disbelief.

 

“If you kill them, _either_ of them, there’s no telling what will happen. If you change things there, then it changes things _here_ , and then Logan and I never make it back here, or back to our future at all. There are too many variables, Flynn, we have to keep things the same as before.” El stares at him until he makes a grumbling sound, relenting.

 

Jiya speaks up, cutting through the tension, “If we’re not allowed to change anything, how are we planning on saving Rufus?”

 

Logan breaths deeply, “This is the part you all might not like very much.”

 

“Oh, _this_ is the part we won’t like?” Flynn says, hackles raised again.

 

“Flynn,” Denise says sternly, “stand down.”

 

He stares daggers at Logan for a few seconds and then lets out a long breath through his nose. He doesn’t say anything more, but his arms stay crossed and his posture rigid.

 

“Keeping the timeline preserved is what’s most important,” El says, “And in this timeline, Rufus isn’t here for the next five years.” The room falls silent. El looks at Jiya sadly and then continues, “So we have to take Rufus back with us into the future. It’s the only way to save him.”

 

For a moment it all just sinks in for everyone around the table, and Denise feels the same bone-deep hurt she felt when she realized Rufus wasn’t coming home. She looks around the table and sees the same pain reflected in the eyes of her team. They have grieved together, and though they have a chance to save Rufus, it doesn’t seem like they can truly get him back.

 

Connor stumbles into the kitchen and grabs a mug, loudly clattering in the cabinet and then pouring himself a cup of coffee and sitting down heavily on one of the chairs around the island. “Sorry,” he says, “what did I miss?”

 

“So, what you’re saying is that even if we save him, it’s still going to be like losing him all over again?” Jiya says. She doesn’t wait for a reply before leaving the room.

 

Connor looks up from his coffee, his eyes wide. “I guess I really did miss something.”

 

“I’m sorry, I really am,” El says.

 

“We know this is hard for all of you, hell, we lived it, but we have to agree on the plan and work together to pull this off,” Logan adds.

 

Denise sees again, clearer than ever, the years of weight on their shoulders.

 

“We can do it. For Rufus,” Lucy says with steel in her voice.

 

“For Rufus,” Wyatt echoes.

 

Flynn regards all of them for a few long moments, and his arms remain crossed, but he nods in agreement.

 

“I’m sure you’ll all fill me in on what death-defying stunts you’ll be pulling through time, but for now I’m going to make sure Jiya is alright,” Connor says, and leaves the table, slightly more awake than when he arrived.

 

“Continue,” Denise says, “Unless there are any more curveballs you want to throw our way, maybe we can actually get on with the rescue mission.”

 

Logan and El both nod solemnly.

 

“We need Flynn and Wyatt to come with us back to Chinatown,” El says, “we need all the firepower we can get for this one.”

 

Wyatt nods, though he looks uneasily at Logan, but Flynn isn’t so easily sold. “So what you’re telling me is that there will be three of _him_ ,” he points at Wyatt, “and three of _me_ running around at the same time during a series of violent altercations in 1888?”

 

El and Logan look at each other and glance away quickly. “We are going to keep all of them… you… compartmentalized,” El says.

 

“Hmm. Comforting.” Flynn is unimpressed.

 

“The five of us are going to wait outside the saloon and approach only when absolutely necessary. We have to make sure all of the Rittenhouse thugs are neutralized, and that Emma escapes without killing anyone,” Logan growls out, “We’re going to have to formulate the concrete plan once we actually get there because it’s been five years for us.”

 

“What about us? Do the rest of us factor into this plan?” Lucy asks.

 

El turns to her, “We can’t tell you too much, but we need you, Denise, Jiya, and Connor to keep monitoring the Mothership and follow Jessica and Emma if they jump again.”

 

“Something tells me they’re going to if you’re saying they might,” Denise says.

 

Logan and El shrug in an eerily identical movement, and Denise sighs in resignation.

 

“Is there anything else we should know?” Wyatt asks, sounding tired.

 

“There is one more thing,” Logan says.

 

“And we’re sorry, but for this we are going in blind,” El adds. “We don’t know how much saving Rufus will change things for all of us. The time in between returning from Chinatown and our arrival is currently in flux because the events before it might change.”

 

Wyatt nods throughout her speech, but Denise doesn’t think he caught a word of it.

 

“So…?” Flynn prompts.

 

“So, we don’t know what exactly will happen to you and to Wyatt once we return you to this time frame. We’re pretty sure the paradox will expand to handle the discrepancy, but we want to prepare you for returning to a different present.” Flynn looks at El levelly as she speaks. He seems to be the only one who can look at her for longer than a few seconds.

 

“Give me one good reason why I should go at all, then,” Flynn says darkly.

 

El replies without a second thought. “Because I’m asking you to. If you trust me, I promise I can get us through this.”

 

Everyone holds their breath for a moment, and Flynn looks like he is searching for something in her unreadable face. After a moment, he nods.

 

“Wait, how are we going to get everyone back?” Lucy asks.

 

Logan cocks an eyebrow, “What do you mean?”

 

“If I have the count right in my head, there will be me, Jiya, Wyatt, and Flynn there who have to come back, and then the four of you plus Rufus _and_ your Flynn. I doubt your lifeboat can hold six people, despite your advancements.”

 

Denise is watching Logan and El while Lucy speaks, and she sees a small expression of hurt glance across their faces before they regain their composed expressions.

 

“You’re right, our lifeboat can’t hold six, but she can take five, at least for the one jump we will need to get back here,” Logan says.

 

“Who’s staying behind?” Wyatt asks.

 

Flynn rolls his eyes, “I think we already know the answer to _that_ question. ‘Flynn, stay here and neutralize Kennedy’s assassins. Flynn, stay here with all the murder cowboys while we shuttle everyone home.’ Sometimes it feels like you all don’t want me around.”

 

Logan and El ignore him.

 

El looks at Wyatt, “We will take injuries into account and decide when the time comes. You and Flynn here should jump back to this time together, and Rufus shouldn’t stay in Chinatown any longer than necessary. I’m the best pilot, so I should come, too. That means either Logan or Garcia will have to wait for the second jump.”

 

“Do you still have the clothes you jumped back in from Chinatown?” Logan asks.

 

Flynn makes a disgruntled noise, “Please tell me you’re not making me put those bloody rags back on.”

 

El looks like she’s resisting the urge to roll her eyes. “You and Wyatt should go put them on. It will save time when we arrive and give us plausible deniability if someone gets spotted. I’ll put on Lucy’s dress.”

 

“We keep all the clothes from missions in a room down the hall. I’ll take you there,” Denise says before leading the way to their storage room.

 

She waits outside while Flynn and Wyatt gather up their clothing. Flynn has taken his arm out of the sling, but he winces as he picks up his pile of clothes.

 

El, noticing, says, “Do you need…”

 

“I can dress myself just fine, thanks very much,” Flynn interrupts her.

 

She closes her mouth into a thin line and only relaxes marginally when Logan gives her a look. She picks up the dress Lucy wore in Chinatown and tries to wipe off some of the dust and grime.

 

“There’s no time to waste,” Logan says, nodding at Flynn and Wyatt, “I suggest you two change, get whatever weapons you want to bring, and meet us back here. Rufus has been waiting long enough.”

 

Wyatt and Flynn leave, and Lucy, who has been waiting outside the door, follows soon after. Logan and El make a move to go, but Denise stops them.

 

“There’s something you two aren’t telling us,” she says. It’s not a question.

 

Logan and El glance at each other. “We don’t think it’s a good idea for anyone here to know,” El says.

 

“Do all of my people make it back home safe?”

 

“Yes, they do,” Logan replies, but El’s face is pinched.

 

Denise takes in their expressions and sighs, “Then, that’s all I need to know.”

 

They both give her small smiles and turn to go to their quarters. Denise goes to make sure the rest of her team is still holding together.

 

-

 

Lucy considers for a moment just shutting herself in her room until it’s time for the team to leave, but she knows she’ll never forgive herself if she does. She hurries after Wyatt and rounds the corner just as he’s shutting the door to Connor’s room. She slips in after him and closes the door behind her.

 

They stare at each other for a moment before Lucy rushes forward and hugs him tightly. He drops the clothing in his arms and wraps his arms around her waist and holds her to his chest. Lucy burrows her face into his shoulder, and then in one motion lets go and steps back. “I’m sorry,” she says, “I just needed that.”

 

When Wyatt replies his voice is rough, “You don’t have to apologize to me.”

 

“I know I say this every time, but be careful, please,” she says.

 

He smiles, “Always am.”

 

Lucy watches as he puts on his shoulder holster and gathers his guns. “Bring him back, Wyatt,” she murmurs.

 

He pauses and looks up at her, “You know I would do anything. We’re family, and that means we fight for each other.”

 

“I know, and…” she trails off, trying to find the right words, “I know you know this already, but I think it should be said. Obviously, we can’t turn back the clock and fix this whole mess between us, and we both need time to figure things out for ourselves, but you are still my family, no matter what.”

 

“I know, Lucy,” Wyatt murmurs softly.

 

She meets his gaze for a moment, and then changes the subject. “It’s hard to believe that someday we will be them, huh?” she says.

 

Wyatt considers this for a moment. “Do you think I _have_ to grow a beard now that I’ve seen my future self with one? Will I break the paradox if I stay clean shaven?”

 

Lucy laughs. “I kind of like it. Very rugged.”

 

Wyatt laughs, too.

 

“Theyseem to be very… in sync,” Lucy says rubbing her temples.

 

“Five years is a long time to be working together as a team. Seven in total for them. A lot can happen in that much time.”

 

Wyatt looks like he’s going to say something more, but he’s cut off by a banging on the door. “Time to go!” Flynn’s muffled voice comes through the metal.

 

“I’ll let you change,” Lucy says.

 

She gives Wyatt one last look before leaving the room. She watches Flynn walk down the corridor for a moment, the long lines of his shoulders tight with tension. She catches up with him, having to jog a bit to compete with his longer stride, and touches his shoulder to stop him. He turns quickly, maybe expecting Wyatt, but his expressions thaws just a bit upon seeing her.

 

“Be careful back there. I don’t think I could handle losing anyone else,” she says.

 

“You don’t need to give me the ‘be careful’ speech, Lucy. We both know caution doesn’t really come naturally to me.”

 

Lucy looks him in the eye. “Well, I’m telling you anyway.”

 

“Look, there will be three of me there. I’m sure between three of me I can manage not to get shot by a stray Rittenhouse bullet. Not getting killed by those bastards is basically a hobby of mine.” His voice is layered in sarcasm, but Lucy can hear his determination beneath his bravado.

 

She regards him and thinks about Chinatown again, her still-aching body not really allowing her to forget. “Why are you doing this?” She asks him, the same question in a different time and different place, but with the same weight beneath the words.

 

“Lucy,” he says, her name soft where most of his words are sharp like razors, “I think we both know the answer to that question.”

 

With that he turns and continues on his way to the Lifeboat, and Lucy has no choice but to accept his response and follow after him.

 

-

 

Connor finds Jiya in her and Lucy’s room, her eyes red-rimmed. “We have to stop meeting like this,” he says, and it startles a laugh out of her.

 

“I don’t know if I can do this, Connor,” she says with a sniffle.

 

He sits down next to her and puts his arm around her shoulders. Connor has always considered himself to be a mentor and friend to Rufus and Jiya, but now he feels much more like a parent as he takes it on himself to comfort her. Rufus’ death felt like the loss of a son.

 

“Jiya, you are the strongest person I know. You survived three years in the bloody 1800s, and you still managed to hold onto yourself.”

 

She smiles. “It was a long time. And five more years is a long time to wait.”

 

“But it’s worth it for him, yeah?” Connor says, knowing it’s just as true for him as it is for her.

 

“I could wait a hundred years for him, but I don’t want to tear a hole in time and space or lose anyone else in the process.”

 

“I know this is a rather rubbish response, but I think we just have to trust the paradox. We have to trust that Wyatt and Lucy’s future selves wouldn’t have come back here without some assurance of success.” Connor feels the time-ache coming back with a vengeance.

 

Jiya makes a non-committal sound. A moment later, the door creaks open and Christopher enters.

 

“Will you be alright, Jiya, to help us go after Emma and Jessica if necessary?” she asks gently. “We need a pilot, and I heard you picked up a few tricks in Chinatown.”

 

Jiya sighs, “I can do it.”

 

“We’re going to get him back. Nobody gets left behind.” Christopher sounds much surer than anyone else has. “Logan, El, Wyatt, and Flynn are set to leave soon. I would like it if the team were all together.”

 

Jiya nods and Christopher leaves with a small smile. Connor follows after, giving Jiya a few minutes on her own to collect her thoughts. She wipes her eyes and fixes her hair, and before she leaves the room she takes a long look at the picture of her and Rufus she keeps tucked under her pillow.

 

She goes to wait with Christopher and Connor and finds that Logan and El are already inside their Lifeboat running basic checks. Flynn shows up a few minutes later with Lucy close behind, and Wyatt a minute or so later.

 

“It’s time,” Logan says, and he and El smile at each other. “Almost there,” he murmurs, just to her.

 

El pokes her head out of the Lifeboat. “Ready?” she asks. Flynn and Wyatt both nod in response and climb up the stairs to join her and Logan.

 

“Good luck,” Christopher says.

 

“And take care,” Connor adds.

 

Jiya and Lucy look on silently as the door to the Lifeboat closes and its rings begin to spin, and then it pops out of existence.


	2. Part Two: The Rescue

The Lifeboat lands heavily, and Wyatt undoes his seatbelt and vaults out the door, proceeding to vomit profusely in a bush.

 

Flynn exits behind him, looking vaguely nauseas but not doubling over. Logan climbs out calmly and takes a few steps away before also vomiting on the ground.

 

“I never want to do that again,” Wyatt huffs out once he catches his breath.

 

“Time traveling with your future self stretches the capacity of the Lifeboat to handle the paradox. Hence, you feeling worse than usual,” El says sympathetically. She walks over to Logan and rubs his shoulder absentmindedly while he and Wyatt recover.

 

Flynn looks around and sees that they have landed in some sort of lot, thankfully abandoned. He wanders around for a bit and finds a tattered tarp. It’s not perfect, but it will hopefully keep the Lifeboat out of notice for the duration of their stay.

 

It’s still nighttime, but the first hints of light are starting to peek above the horizon in the east, meaning dawn is coming soon.

 

“Took you all long enough,” a voice calls out, “I thought I might have gotten the wrong abandoned lot.”

 

Flynn, another Flynn, dressed almost identically to the other in a maroon coat and bowler hat, emerges from behind the Lifeboat. “Garcia,” Lucy says, walking over and hugging him, “Glad to see you managed to avoid getting shot without us.”

 

He hugs her back and chuckles, “Protecting you two is usually what _gets_ me shot.”

 

Logan goes to join them, and Future-Flynn lets go of El to shake his hand. “Everything under control?” Logan asks.

 

“Yes, sir,” Future-Flynn says with a phony salute.

 

Throughout the entire interaction Wyatt and Flynn watch with baffled expressions, occasionally glancing over at each other suspiciously.

 

Future-Flynn turns and catches sight of them. “You know, Wyatt, I always told you that you look better without a beard,” he says over his shoulder.

 

“Hey, I _like_ my beard,” Logan replies defensively.

 

“Just because you like it doesn’t make it a good idea.”

 

El lets out a long-suffering sigh and says, “This is not the time for your bickering.”

 

“I prefer the term _banter_ ,” Future-Flynn interjects. El shoots him a look.

 

“We should get going. The sun is almost up, and we have a way to walk.”

 

Future-Flynn and Logan nod and start walking away. Logan mumbles something and Future-Flynn calls over his shoulder, “You can call me Garcia.”

 

El looks at Flynn and Wyatt’s dumbfounded expressions with a sort of amused tenderness. “Come on,” she says, and turns to follow the others.

 

“I… don’t think I like this,” Flynn says slowly.

 

Wyatt huffs out a breath, “Join the club.” He starts to walk, jogging to catch up with El, and Flynn shakes his head and follows after.

 

After a while the sun starts to rise as they enter the city proper. They break into a general store and steal some clothes for Logan before continuing into town. A couple hours pass before things start to look more familiar, and both Flynn and Wyatt visibly tense when they enter into Chinatown.

 

Garcia leads them to a storefront and they squeeze through the gap between the building and the one next to it and slip in through the back. The space is empty, but recently used.

 

“Shop owner left two days ago with his wife and daughter carrying bags. They haven’t come back since and I doubt they will before we leave,” Garcia says, moving the curtains aside to peer out into the streets to see if anyone had noticed them.

 

El and Logan sit down at the table in the center of the room, glad to be off their feet. Flynn and Wyatt remain standing.

 

“What have you got?” Logan asks. Garcia backs away from the window and grabs a chair, turning it around and sitting in it backwards.

 

“I’ve found Carol, Emma, Jessica, Nicholas Keynes, and their goons hiding out in an inn nearby. One of their men frequents the saloon Jiya is working at, sometimes joined by others or by Jessica and Emma. Jiya hides when either of the women show up, but they know she’s there. They’re just waiting for the team to come and rescue her, so they can take out all the birds with one stone.”

 

El and Logan nod. “Anything else?” says El.

 

“I managed to take out one of their men yesterday. Made it look like an accident. That leaves two men left with them,” Garcia says.

 

“Good work. What do you have for the saloon?” El asks.

 

Garcia reaches into his pocket and takes out a sheet of paper. He unfolds it and sets it on the table. Wyatt and Flynn lean over and see that it is a rough drawing of the saloon and the surrounding buildings in a bird’s-eye view.

 

“The saloon has two exits,” Garcia says, pointing to the page, “Here and here. We leave out the front door after the firefight and I believe here,” he points again, “is where Emma shoots at us from, hitting me in the arm and killing Rufus.”

 

Wyatt tenses up and opens his mouth, but he closes it when he sees El and Logan’s expressions. They both look so sad, and so very tired. El reaches over and grabs Logan’s hand and for a moment no one says anything.

 

“Sorry to break up the party, but I still haven’t heard any plan yet,” Flynn says.

 

Garcia glares at him for a moment and then turns to El and Logan, “I really don’t know how you two put up with me.”

 

“Believe me, it was a trial,” Logan shoots back.

 

“He’s right, though,” El says, “What have you got?”

 

Garcia takes a pencil out of his pocket and starts to mark up the page. “From what I’ve seen, there are two vantage points where we will be able to provide cover and save everyone are here,” he draws an x in between two buildings, one labelled ‘Saloon’ and the other labeled ‘Apothecary’, “and here.” He draws another x across the street behind a building labeled “Barber”.

 

El nods while he speaks, “Okay,” she says, “Flynn, Garcia, and I will take the location next to the saloon, and I want Wyatt and Logan across the street giving cover while we save Rufus.” The two sets of Flynns and Wyatts look at each other and then all seem to come to the same conclusion, nodding practically in unison.

 

“Whatever you say, boss,” Logan says. El gives him a small smile.

 

“Do you know where we are?” Wyatt says, and his forehead wrinkles as he makes a face, “The other ‘we’, I mean.”

 

“Judging by what time it is, I would say we are about to arrive,” Flynn says.

 

“Do you have a location we can observe the photo shop from?” Logan asks him.

 

Garcia nods. “It’s not ideal, but there is a space between two buildings across the street where we should all be able to fit and observe.”

 

“We should go. The earlier we’re in position and keeping watch the less chance of us being spotted,” El says. They all stand up and make their way out of the building and back onto the street.

 

“We’re too conspicuous as a group,” Garcia says, “We should split up and meet by the photo studio so we don’t draw attention. I know my way there easily, and these two were just here so they should be able to find it well enough.” He gestures at Flynn and Wyatt as he speaks.

 

“No one identical should travel together. I’ll go with Wyatt. Logan, you go with Flynn,” El says. Logan and Flynn eye each other warily, but neither says anything to contradict her. “Let’s move.”

 

They split up in three different directions. Wyatt and El walk in awkward silence for a while until El takes a step nearer to him and takes his arm. He glances at her sideways and she shrugs her shoulders. “I’m being inconspicuous.” He breathes out an almost-chuckle and relaxes his shoulders slightly.

 

After another moment he speaks, “What’s it like for you, being back here?”

 

“Hard. It’s been so long that the memory had faded but being here is bringing back all the fear and sorrow this place brought us.”

 

It seems like she has more to say, so Wyatt waits for her to continue. When she speaks again, her voice is almost a whisper. “I just can’t believe I’m finally going to see Rufus again.”

 

He sees a hint of tears in her eyes and holds her arm a little tighter. “We can do this.”

 

“I know we can,” she replies, her voice steady once again, “I just hope we can get it right.”

 

“I thought you knew everything about this?” Wyatt says, almost teasing.

 

El sighs lightly, “I know the paradox should ensure things go the exact way they did the first time, but you know as well as I do that history is fragile and easy to twist and change. I won’t be able to relax until all is said and done.”

 

Wyatt does know what she means, and it’s only then, holding her arm and watching her out of the corner of his eye does it finally click for him that this is _Lucy_ , his Lucy, a bit older and a bit harder, but still her. He feels a swell of love for her and a wave of relief knowing that with time they are able to heal their broken relationship.

 

They turn the corner and spot the photography studio halfway down the block and walk towards it, quickly finding the alley Garcia mentioned. Garcia himself is already there, leaning against the wall of one of the buildings. “Took you two long enough,” he says. El doesn’t dignify him with a response.

 

“How long do you estimate we have?” El asks Wyatt.

 

“We arrived in the morning, and it took us a while to find clothes and then the photo studio, so I think we have at least an hour until we make it here. Carol, Jessica, Emma, and the rest of them must be arriving soon.”

 

After a minute or two passes El turns to Garcia. “Please tell me they aren’t beating each other up in an alley somewhere.”

 

Garcia chuckles. “I distinctly remember fuming, arguing, and getting a bit lost, but I don’t think either of us sustain any lasting injuries.”

 

El rolls her eyes, “I’m glad you’ve learned how to play nice, even though it took five years.”

 

“Once I stopped contributing all my energy to anger, resentment, and revenge, I became much more chipper.”

 

As if on cue, Flynn enters the alley at that moment, looking distinctly angry, with Logan following a few moments later with a similar expression on his face. Garcia looks like he is trying to hold back laughter.

 

“And now, we wait,” Garcia says, taking up a place against the building towards the front of the alley so he can see both ways down the street.

 

They fall into silence, all familiar with the art of the stakeout, and wait tensely for Garcia to call that they have arrived. The photography studio is directly across the street, so they all have at least a partial view of the entrance.

 

It’s not long before Garcia spots Carol, Jessica, and Emma in their colorful dresses, and he signals to everyone to stay alert. El tenses up visibly, and Logan grabs her hand, as both a comfort and a caution, as her mother comes into view. Seeing Jessica has a similar effect on him, if not more extreme, because it looks as if someone has punched him in the gut. Wyatt’s chest aches thinking about what that means for his future. Garcia and Flynn both set their faces into unreadable masks as the three women, followed by Nicholas Keynes, enter the shop.

 

There are no outward signs of struggle though they know that they are attacking the shop owner, taking him hostage, and using his daughter to conceal their presence.

 

A few minutes later, after the initial shock has worn off, Garcia’s posture shifts again slightly, and a moment later they come into view. Flynn, Wyatt, Lucy, and Rufus, all relieved at having found the photo shop in the maze of Chinatown.

 

Both El and Logan physically react to seeing Rufus, holding each other’s hands tightly and smiling a little breathlessly. They lock eyes for a second. “I know,” Logan says to her, and a tear squeezes out of the corner of her eye.

 

Wyatt sees Rufus, alive and well, and starts to really believe that maybe they can get him back. They wait tensely for what’s going to happen next as their doubles across the street enter the photo shop.

 

For a few minutes, nothing happens, and then they hear three distinct shots from inside the shop, and Emma and Jessica run out soon after. Wyatt and Flynn follow them, and, after a short, tense discussion, Flynn runs after Emma and Wyatt after Jessica. They wait and watch and do nothing, despite knowing that inside Lucy is holding her dying mother in her arms. There is nothing to be done.

 

Another couple minutes pass, and Rufus exits the shop with the shopkeeper’s daughter, walking with brisk purpose. “Flynn, Garcia, with me,” El says, “We’ll follow Rufus and take up our position outside the saloon. Logan and Wyatt, you two follow after the rest of us once they leave.”

 

There is a collective nod and El leaves with the two Flynns, spreading out on their way as to not draw attention from anyone in the street, especially Rufus.

 

Logan and Wyatt move to the front of the alley and watch the shop across the street in silence. “Is this as hard for you as it is for me?” Wyatt asks.

 

“Since I _am_ you, I think you already know the answer to that question,” Logan replies, looking in the direction Jessica and his past self had run.

 

“I just feel like I messed it up here. I should have said anything, done _anything_ to get her to come with us.”

 

Logan nods. “You and I both know we could never force Jessica to do anything she didn’t want to do.”

 

Wyatt chuckles mirthlessly. He pauses for a moment before asking the question that has been on the tip of his tongue since he first laid eyes on his future self. “Do I ever see her again?”

 

Logan is silent for a long time, and Wyatt is prepared to take that as his answer and prepare himself for the worst, but he finally replies, “I’m seeing her now.”

 

He doesn’t have to say anything else. Wyatt understands perfectly that although things may never be right between them, seeing her now is enough. Just a glimpse of her is better than nothing.

 

After a short while they watch Flynn stalk back to the shop, obviously frustrated at losing Emma. He opens the door and closed it softly.

 

Logan and Wyatt sit in an awkward silence, both wanting desperately to know what’s going on in the shop but not wanting to ask.

 

“Do you ever wish you were the first to come back, to comfort her?” Wyatt asks, pointedly not looking at Logan.

 

“I did, once,” Logan says, leveling his gaze on Wyatt, “But I came to realize this was for the best. I was in no place to comfort her, then. Or anyone, for that matter.”

 

Wyatt knows that he could be offended by his words but coming from himself they only ring true.

 

Their past self returns a few moments later, and Wyatt can see his own sorrow from a mile away. This truly was a dark day. He and Logan only have to wait a few moments longer before the three exit the shop and follow in the same direction Rufus took earlier.

 

“Lead the way, I’ll follow at a safe distance,” Logan says to Wyatt. He nods, and they depart for the saloon.

 

Once they arrive it’s easy to find the location Garcia picked out for them on his map. Wyatt peers at the saloon and at the spot he knows El, Flynn, and Garcia are hiding in, but he can’t see even the end of a tailcoat.

 

Logan has his eyes fixed on the porch of the saloon, staring at the place where Rufus died, and he only shakes himself out of his trance when he sees Emma, Jessica, and their men enter the saloon. A moment later, shots go off and the building erupts with noise and commotion.

 

Wyatt grips his gun so hard his knuckles turn white, and he hopes with everything he has that they can pull this off.

 

The sound of gunshots stops for a while, and Wyatt knows that Emma must be taunting them while they desperately convince Jiya to come home. He tenses up and can feel Flynn’s hand on his shoulder where it had rested for a moment before they attacked Emma and Jessica to give the rest cover. He knew that neither he or Flynn thought they were coming out of that firefight alive. They hear shots again, and after a minute passes Emma runs out of the door with Jessica following a moment behind, holding her arm and running as fast as she can in the opposite direction.

 

Logan steps out of his crouch immediately and turns to Wyatt, and Wyatt knows then that this had always been the plan. “I’m going after her,” Logan says. Wyatt looks into his own eyes and sees the wild desperation there, and he nods.

 

“I’ll cover them,” he says, and watches for a moment as Logan runs away after her before turning again to watch the door.

 

-

 

Logan runs faster than he ever has in his life, and he catches up with her quickly on account of her injured arm.

 

“Jessica!” he yells, when he’s about ten feet from her, and she stops dead in her tracks.

 

She turns around, confused at how he caught up with her, and then more confused as she takes in his clothes and beard.

 

He takes a couple steps forward with his hands up, having holstered his gun before he even started after her.

 

“Who are you?” she asks, her feet moving her closer.

 

“I should think that’s pretty obvious,” Logan replies with false bravado.

 

Jessica squints at him. “But that’s impossible,” she says, her tone incredulous, “There can’t be two of you here. You can’t cross over your own timeline.”

 

Logan’s voice is thick. “I had to see you.”

 

“So you broke physics to come here to say goodbye?”

 

“No,” he says, and now his voice is stronger, “I came here to tell you that I let you go back there, and I’m letting you go now, because I love you, and because you are carrying my child, and I want you to remember that, because I don’t know if you’ll ever see me again.”

 

Jessica’s eyes are shiny. “I love you, too,” she says. Logan inhales sharply.

 

He swallows hard and says slowly, like it hurts him physically to say, “I don’t know if you do, or you ever did, because Rittenhouse took the woman I loved and turned her into someone I don’t recognize.”

 

She stares at him sadly but doesn’t say anything else.

 

“I am going to ask one thing of you, just one, and for the sake of our baby I need you to do it,” Logan says roughly.

 

Jessica waits a beat and then nods.

 

“If Rittenhouse is going down, I want you to jump ship. Take the baby and get the hell out of there. Loyalty to those monsters is not worth our child’s life.” He stares at her, and it breaks his heart to see the conflict on her face, a face he used to think he knew every single expression of.

 

Finally, she relies, “Okay, Wyatt,” and his heart breaks one last time hearing her say his name, “I promise.”

 

“Thank you,” he says, and he stays rooted in place as she walks away. She turns back, once, to look at him, but he can’t make out the expression on her face. He just sees her turn, pause, and then disappear into the crowd.

 

It’s a long time before he can force himself to move.

 

-

 

El, Flynn, and Garcia follow behind Rufus at a safe distance, but he’s so obviously determined and excited about finding Jiya that he never even checks behind him that he might be followed. They turn the corner and wait for Rufus to enter the saloon, then walk over to take their position along the building.

 

Flynn and Garcia, at almost the same moment, take their guns out of their holsters, load the guns, and cock them, holding them pointed at the ground but still at the ready. They glance at each other with matching looks of irritation before refocusing.

 

El smiles at the two of them softly and takes out her own gun that she had tucked in the bodice of her dress.

 

As the minutes tick by she grows more and more anxious. She realizes, belatedly, that she really is going to have to live through it all again. Her heart rate increases but she stays calm, knowing that nothing she does will change the outcome. Back in her time, in her bunker, she had gone over it with Connor a hundred times, trying to change something, anything, but he always told her the same thing, that they can’t change what happens without breaking the paradox, probably killing Rufus and possibly themselves in the process.

 

Flynn has the best view down the street and he murmurs to them, “The rest are coming now.”

 

A few moments later, the door to the saloon opens and they hear the shuffling feet of their past selves entering. El feels the minutes quickly evaporating. She hasn’t been this nervous for a mission in years.

 

Garcia resolutely doesn’t turn back to look at her, but she can see his face in profile, jaw clenched, and eyebrows furrowed. He looks determined.

 

“Back up,” Flynn says lowly, and they all recede a few steps back into the space between buildings. Emma, Jessica, and two large men walk past. Flynn rolls his shoulders back, “Here we go,” he says.

 

They move again, this time so they all have a view of the door. Lucy peers across the street to where she knows Logan and Wyatt must be positioned by now. She doesn’t see any sign of them, but she knows they are there.

 

Shots ring out inside the saloon, and a stream of panicked cowboys and barmaids stream out the door. “Ready?” Lucy says, her voice sounding much steadier than she feels.

 

Flynn and Garcia both nod. There are a few moments of silence, and then they hear shots again, this time obviously the sounds of a firefight.

 

Garcia grabs Flynn’s shoulder and turns him. “Listen to me very closely, because we don’t have time for me to repeat myself,” he says. Flynn knows that look on his own face, and he nods seriously. “When they walk out the door, I need you to grab the third us and pull him back here. I don’t care what you do to keep him out of the way and quiet, but I need you to do it, and not to worry about anything else going on. Clear?”

 

Flynn hesitates for a moment, regarding his older self. He must see something there that convinces him. “Clear,” he replies.

 

“Lucy.”

 

El looks at Garcia and feels her chest constrict. “I need you to help him keep my past self under control.”

 

“I can do that,” she says. There is a moment of silence between them, and she knows that they are running out of time. “I-” she starts, but before she can say anything Garcia leans forward, reaching up the hand not holding his gun and cradles the back of her neck. He kisses her, but there’s no heat in it, only tenderness. El kisses him back, reaching up to stroke his cheek.

 

Flynn watches this entire exchange with a dumbfounded expression. There are two things he knows for sure, that this is not the first time they have done this, and that it is the last. He knows a goodbye when he sees one, and all the pieces fall into place for him.

 

Garcia and El break apart with one last lingering look. “Don’t say it,” he says, “Please.”

 

El opens her mouth for a moment as if to protest, but she relents. They take up their positions. Not a moment later, they see Emma and Jessica flee the building. El watches Jessica run down the street and sees Logan emerge from his hiding place and tear after her as she knew he would.

 

Emma exits the saloon and runs across the street, taking up a position behind a building where she has a clear sightline to the front door. El wants so badly to kill her then and there, and end this horrible cycle they are all caught in. _No playing god_ , she thinks resolutely, and focuses on the task at hand.

 

“Ready,” Garcia says, having heard footsteps coming up the stairs. The door to the saloon opens, and he waits one moment so the timing is exactly right. “Now!” he yells, at the exact moment Emma opens fire.

 

Garcia leaps out into the fray, and Flynn and El rush out to where they know the other Flynn will be standing and grab him just as a stray bullet hits his upper arm. Flynn flinches in sync with his past self, feeling his days old would start to ache. In the confusion they manage to wrestle past-Flynn into the alley without much trouble and block the entryway.

 

He is holding his injured arm and staring at them in abject shock and confusion. “What the-” he starts to say, but Flynn cuts him off.

 

“There’s no time to explain anything to you. You’ll figure it out on your own soon enough.”

 

They hear a desperate shout coming from behind them. Past-Flynn surges forward and tries to get around them, but after some grappling they hold him and repel him back. “We will explain everything as soon as we can but for now I need you to _stand down_ ,” El says firmly. Something in her tone must get through to him, because he doesn’t rush them again, even though his posture remains rigid.

 

For a few moments, they stand in silence, listening to the desperate murmurs and movements from around the corner.

 

At last, a heavy silence falls, and they hear, after a beat, Wyatt’s voice. “Where’s Lucy?”

 

“That’s our cue,” El says, and they all come out from around the corner.

 

-

 

Wyatt tears his eyes away from the place where Logan had disappeared down another street and sees Emma rush across the street and take up a place a few doors down from him. He knows his job is to watch and wait, and provide covering fire if necessary, and he starts to itch with not being a part of the fight.

 

There a few moments of stillness in which he knows they are celebrating Rufus surviving and getting Jiya back and they think they are all going to get through this unscathed.

 

The door to the saloon opens.

 

It all happens so fast that if he didn’t know what to look for Wyatt wouldn’t have seen anything at all. Himself, Jiya, Rufus, Flynn, and Lucy all emerge from the building, and a moment later Emma starts shooting. Wyatt sees Garcia run out from their hiding spot and rush in front of the group as if to shield them. He doesn’t even fire his gun. Flynn and El follow after and take hold of the other Flynn as he is shot in the arm, and they wrestle him back into the alley.

 

Wyatt watches tensely as he sees Garcia drop to the ground. Even from across the street Wyatt can see that he’s been hit multiple times. Garcia slumps back against past-Wyatt, who is trying to assess the damage, and both Jiya and Rufus are applying pressure to his wounds. None of them look like they were even grazed. Wyatt realizes that they all think this is _their_ Flynn who jumped in front and sacrificed himself to save them because the confusion of the firefight prevented them from seeing the truth. He watches as Lucy takes a long, horrified look at Garcia coughing up blood, and she grabs his gun and sprints down the street after Emma.

 

For a moment Wyatt doesn’t move, but he sees that no one noticed Lucy leave because they are too busy dealing with Flynn. He waits for his past self to realize and go after her but looking around the corner he sees that she is almost out of sight. With one last glance at Garcia, now still on the ground, he runs down the street after her. He almost loses her a couple times, but he manages to stay on her tail.

 

Wyatt turns a corner and sees Lucy all the way down the street entering what looks like a warehouse. He hears shots as he gets closer and he runs faster as he enters the building.

 

It is filled with hallways and turns, and soon he begins to hear voices. He follows the sound, and he can make out a few words.

 

“…everyone that you love? My mother, my sister, Flynn!”

 

Wyatt knows Lucy’s voice, and a moment later he hears faint sounds of a struggle. He desperately runs faster, and the sounds of a fight get gradually louder. “Lucy!” he shouts, and as he rounds the last corner he sees Emma get up from where she had been holding Lucy on the ground and he takes a few halfhearted shots at her. Emma rushes around a corner and out of sight.

 

“Lucy,” he says again, this time much softer. He kneels down next to her and sets down his gun, moving to help her up. She twists around so quickly he doesn’t have any time to react and she grabs his gun, lunging to see around the corner and shoot at Emma’s retreating form. He doesn’t hear any grunts of pain, so he gathers she gets away.

 

Lucy slumps down onto the ground and begins to cry. Wyatt moves and pulls her into his arms.

 

“Wyatt,” she says, and her voice sounds so broken that he barely recognizes it. He puts his forehead against hers and holds her as tightly as he can, trying to offer her any comfort he can. As he holds her she whispers, “I can’t” over and over again into his ear.

 

He holds her for a long time, until her sobs subside, and then he helps her to her feet, preparing himself to face the explanation of this whole mess.

 

-

 

Logan walks back to the saloon, knowing what he will find there and still hoping that somehow things turn out differently this time. As he approaches, he sees Rufus, Jiya, and past-Wyatt kneeling on the ground around Garcia’s body. Logan can tell from one glance that he is dead. He swallows around the lump in his throat and takes in the rest of the situation, in that Rufus, Jiya, and past-Wyatt are staring at their Flynn, the other Flynn, and El in abject shock. He realizes that it might actually be easier on everyone if he just goes back to their Lifeboat and waits it out, but it’s too late. El catches sight of him and flicks her eyes over and then quickly away. Rufus catches the movement and turns to look at him.

 

The silence stretches for another moment as he looks between Logan and his Wyatt, and then he closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. “I am currently pretending like this isn’t happening because this _can’t_ be happening because we don’t _do_ this. We don’t mess with time and cross over our own timelines not just because it’s _impossible_ but also because it’s _wrong_.” Rufus’ voice has slowly risen to the point where he is shouting.

 

“Rufus,” El says, looking like she can barely believe she’s saying his name.

 

“Yes, freaky badass future Lucy?” Rufus replies. Logan feels like he could cry seeing Rufus again and hearing his voice.

 

“I know this is hard to understand, and we actually can’t explain much of it to you in order to preserve the paradox, but I will tell you all I can.”

 

Rufus sighs deeply and looks at Jiya, “Did you hear that? They created a paradox. A paradox! A thing that by definition should not exist,” he turns back to El, “Why would you do that?”

 

Before she can reply Logan steps forward. “Because we couldn’t let you die,” he says.

 

There is a moment of shocked silence, and then Jiya looks from the body of Garcia in front of her over to the other two Flynns and understanding dawns on her face. “It didn’t happen this way the first time, did it?” she asks.

 

El shakes her head.

 

“So, this Flynn here,” Jiya says, gesturing gingerly at Garcia, “is from the future, and one of these other two is our Flynn.”

 

Past-Flynn still looks utterly shell shocked at the entire situation, but he manages to raise his uninjured arm and say, weakly, “That would be me.”

 

Jiya continues, “And if this Flynn hadn’t jumped in front of us, Rufus would have been shot and killed instead, like I saw in my vision.”

 

El nods.

 

“Wait,” Rufus breaks in, “so does this just mean I will have to constantly escape death at every turn because Jiya has foreseen it?”

 

“Not exactly,” Logan says, “and this part you might not like.”

 

“I don’t think I like any of the parts,” Rufus replies.

 

Past-Wyatt is pointedly not looking at any of the doubles around him, remaining conspicuously silent.

 

“In order to preserve the timeline, we have to take Rufus back to the future with us.” Logan almost lets out a sigh as he speaks, realizing just how difficult it’s going to be to convince them.

 

They all shout at him at once.

 

“What?” Jiya says, putting an arm out as if to shield Rufus.

 

“You’ve _got_ to be kidding me,” Rufus adds.

 

“Why would we let you do that?” past-Wyatt yells, still holding his gun at his side.

 

“Everyone _stop_!” El shouts, and there is a note of desperation in her voice. Her careful composure is slowly cracking. Everyone does stop and looks at her expectantly. “We will give you the explanations you need but please, would you let me give him a proper funeral.” She goes over to Garcia’s body and kneels down next to him.

 

Past-Wyatt, Jiya, and Rufus stand and give her space, grouping together a few feet away from everyone else.

 

Garcia’s hand is still slightly warm as El takes it for the last time. She doesn’t allow herself to break down in front of them, because the mission is bigger than her own grief, but she can’t stand the squabbling anymore. “Jiya, could you get me a bedsheet or something to cover him with.”

 

Jiya nods and rushes back into the saloon. She emerges a few moments later with a slightly yellowed bedsheet and hands it to El.

 

Logan goes over to her and kneels down, placing a hand on El’s shoulder, “There was nothing you could do,” he says gently.

 

She nods and sniffs, once, and then hands him part of the sheet so he can help her wrap Garcia’s body. They hear a sharp gasp and turn to see Lucy approaching with Wyatt, his arm around her shoulder.

 

This seems to be the breaking point for past-Wyatt, and he raises his gun to point it at his future self.

 

Past-Lucy looks from her Wyatt to Logan back to the Wyatt holding her and pushes away. “What the hell is going on?” she asks, her voice low and shaky.

 

El stands and puts herself in front of past-Wyatt’s gun, knowing that he would never shoot any version of her. She looks over her shoulder at her past self, beaten, bloodied, and broken, and feels the exhaustion of the mission fall in a single heavy heap onto her shoulders.

 

Past-Wyatt doesn’t put down his gun, but his arm shakes uncharacteristically as he points it at El.

 

“Wyatt,” she says gently, “We came back here to save Rufus while still preserving the timeline. If you hurt any of us, you would literally just be hurting yourself. Believe me, I know how confusing this is, but I need you to put your gun down.”

 

For a moment everyone holds their breath, and then he slowly lowers his gun. “I can’t let you take him,” he says, placing himself in front of Rufus, “We’re a family, and we stay together.”

 

Past-Lucy steps gingerly around her future self and goes to join him.

 

Logan finds himself growing frustrated. He understands why they are doing this, but he can’t help but want to shout at them that he and El have had to live without their family for five long years and could finally fix things. _No selfish choices_ , he thinks, and steels himself. “We don’t want to pull your family apart, but if Rufus doesn’t come with us, sooner or later, he will die. Coming into the future will break him out of this timeline.”

 

“How do you know that for sure?” Jiya asks.

 

“Because you told us,” El replies.

 

Jiya shakes her head, “No, I didn’t.”

 

“Well, you haven’t yet, but you will,” Logan says.

 

Rufus makes an exasperated sound, “I really wish this were less painfully similar to every single time travel TV show and movie I’ve ever seen.”

 

Past-Lucy looks at Logan and then back at El, and after a moment it’s as if something clicks for her and her expression smooths out slightly. “I think we should listen to them,” she says slowly.

 

Past-Wyatt glances at her in disbelief, “Why?” he says.

 

“Think about it, Wyatt,” she says, “Why would be come back here, breaking every single time travel rule in the book, if it weren’t for a good reason?”

 

“She’s right,” Jiya says.

 

Past-Wyatt and Rufus both turn their shocked expressions on her.

 

“I don’t want Rufus to be transported in the future and have to wait years to see him, but we’ve seen how my visions work. If he stays with us it’s only a matter of time before he dies, and I can’t let that happen, now or in any time.”

 

Rufus reaches over and takes her hand. “Can you tell us how long it would be?” he asks.

 

“Five years,” Logan says.

 

Past-Wyatt lets out a pained exhale but says nothing. Past-Lucy looks at Rufus sadly. Rufus turns to look at Jiya, “Five years is a long time. I don’t expect anything of you and I just want you to know tha-”

 

Jiya shuts him up with a quick kiss on the lips, “Don’t be stupid,” she says, “I could wait a hundred years for you.” They kiss again, and Rufus pulls back to look at her with an expression akin to awe.

 

“I love you,” he says. She nods and hold his hand tighter.

 

“Are we in agreement, then?” El asks, and there is a long pause where multiple different silent conversations seem to be happening at once.

 

“Yes,” past-Lucy says at last.

 

“I guess so,” Rufus adds, still holding Jiya’s hand.

 

El looks at past-Wyatt, and when he finally meets her eyes he gives a sharp nod. She turns to Wyatt and says, softly, “Can you help me?” She glances down at the body at her feet.

 

Wyatt nods and goes to her, and Logan and their Flynn join them as well. “I never thought I would be my own pall-bearer,” Flynn says darkly as the four of them lift the body onto their shoulders.

 

“I remember this,” Logan says solemnly, “I can show us where to go.”

 

They start off down the street, and the other Flynn, Lucy, and Wyatt and Rufus and Jiya follow behind them mostly in silence, occasionally murmuring something or another to each other.

 

The walk isn’t too long, but soon enough El’s shoulder starts to ache with the weight. Logan leads them through a few twists and turns. It’s late enough that there aren’t many people around, and though the few that are stare in confusion at their strange funeral procession, no one tries to stop them.

 

They turn on a street and come upon a building that is obviously abandoned. It looks like it was used to be some sort of general store, but the windows are boarded up and the wood is starting to rot. They set down the body, gently, and Logan kicks in the door. “Through here, to the back,” he says.

 

It takes a bit of maneuvering for all of them to make it through the shop, and what they find behind it is a small area of land behind the shop with a dilapidated shed. “We can use this,” Logan says.

 

El grasps what he means and nods. Everyone is silent as they place the body inside the shed. El draws a matchbook out of the bodice of her dress and then takes a deep breath and lights one, using it to set fire to the sheet, and then closing the shed door and lighting another, setting fire to the shed itself. She steps back as the old wood quickly catches and soon enough the entire shed is engulfed in flame.

 

No eulogy is said. El and Logan hold hands, fingers intertwined, and watch the fire.

 

The informal funeral seems to subdue everyone, and the atmosphere turns to one of solemn anticipation of what has to come next.

 

“Why would you do that?” Wyatt asks Flynn, far enough away and quiet enough that no one else can hear.

 

Flynn gives him a sidelong glance, “I don’t think even I will know the answer to that for years,” he says, and then he looks at El and Logan, and at their linked hands, “But I think I have an idea.”

 

Wyatt takes this as a good enough answer and lets it rest.

 

The shed collapses in on itself, and the fire begins to slowly die down. El lets go of Logan’s hand and turns back to the group, wiping a stray tear from her eye. “We should all get going. It does us no good to stay in this time any longer.”

 

They all looks at the smoldering pile of ashes where the shed used to be. No one raises any objections.

 

They go first to where past-Lucy, past-Wyatt, past-Flynn, and Jiya had landed their lifeboat. Past-Flynn holds his injured arm and climbs up into the Lifeboat with a grunt, refusing to look anyone in the eye.

 

Past-Lucy hugs Rufus tightly and past-Wyatt does the same. Jiya kisses him for a long time, long enough that Wyatt starts to tap his foot and El averts her eyes.

 

“You’ll all get to see him soon because we have to drop these two off,” Logan says, moving his hand vaguely at Wyatt and Flynn.

 

Rufus and Jiya break apart. “Goodbye for now,” she whispers to him.

 

“Goodbye for now,” he murmurs in response.

 

She climbs into the Lifeboat, followed by past-Wyatt and past-Lucy. The door hisses shut, and they watch as the rings begin to spin and it pops out of existence.

 

Rufus watches the space where it used to be for a moment before turning around to look at the four of them. “Alright,” he says, sounding resigned, “I guess we should get go-” he stops mid-sentence and looks at the four of them again, squinting slightly. “How did you all even get here? Which one of you is the pilot?”

 

“I am,” El says.

 

He smiles a bit, seeming more at ease now that there are fewer doubles to contend with. “Good. You would definitely be my first choice. I don’t want Flynn or Wyatt anywhere near the controls of my time machine.”

 

Logan manages a chuckle. “It’s really good to see you, man,” he says.

 

“You, too, Tom Hanks from Castaway after being trapped on that island for a while.”

 

El smiles.

 

“Why does everyone have a problem with my beard,” Logan says, “I _like_ my beard.”

 

“Are we going to leave or not?” Flynn says, sounding exasperated. “I would really rather not spend any more time in this godforsaken place.”

 

“He’s right,” El says, “Let’s go home.”

 

They start walking in the direction of their Lifeboat, and Wyatt falls into step with Rufus. For a couple minutes they walk in silence. Finally, Wyatt works up the courage to speak. “I’m sorry, Rufus.”

 

“For what?” Rufus asks, genuinely confused.

 

Wyatt sighs, “If I had protected you in the first place like I’m supposed to none of this would have happened.”

 

Rufus gives him a look. “I don’t know exactly what happened in this other timeline, but I know _you_ , and I know that you did everything you could, like you always do. Don’t start that guilt trip crap with me.” Rufus puts a hand on his shoulder.

 

“It’s really good to have you back, man,” Wyatt says.

 

Rufus narrows his eyes. “I think you already said that,” he says, and then looks over at Logan, “or he already said that. Is it normal that I have a huge headache right now?”

 

Wyatt chuckles, “Yeah, it’ll pass once there’s only one of each of us around, like there should be.”

 

They come upon the Lifeboat and all five of them squeeze inside.

 

“This is so weird,” Rufus says, looking at El in the pilot’s seat turning on the Lifeboat and doing general checks. “Also, very cramped.”

 

Logan, Wyatt, Rufus, and Flynn all have their knees pressed together in the tiny Lifeboat. “We managed to upgrade the Lifeboat to sustain five passengers for short trips, but unfortunately there was nothing we could do to make it any roomier,” Logan says.

 

“Everybody ready?” El calls back.

 

The four men offer nods and sounds of agreement, and El flips a few more switches, activating the jump. They are thrown forward in time with a jolt and leave Chinatown behind, for good.


	3. Part Three: The Hiccup

Denise, Connor, Jiya, and Lucy look at the place where the second Lifeboat had just been for a long moment before turning to look at each other. For a few moments it seems like no one will be able to find anything to say. Denise’s fingers start to itch with the urge to knit.

 

They all seem frozen with the shared knowledge that at any point history could be changed and their perception could be shifted without them ever knowing it.

 

“Do you ever get used to it,” Lucy asks, “being left behind?”

 

Both Connor and Denise let out tired chuckles. “Of course not,” Denise replies.

 

“If anything, it’s just gotten worse with time,” Connor adds. They look at each other with slightly ironic smiles.

 

“I wonder how long we have until Jessica and Emma jump somewhere,” Lucy says.

 

Jiya goes over to her collection of monitors and sits down. She hits a few keys and peers at one of the monitors. When she speaks, her voice is a monotone, void of her usual joking and passion. “We know they jumped back to the present after Chinatown, most likely for medical assistance. They’ve had some time to recuperate and if we know anything about Rittenhouse, we know they could jump at any moment.”

 

Lucy is still in her pajamas and bathrobe, so she turns and heads for her room. “I’m going to go get ready, then,” she says.

 

Connor watches her walk away for a moment and then goes over to stand behind Jiya. He looks over at Christopher and says, “So who’s going and who’s staying? We obviously can’t take all four of us because we need someone to remain in the bunker.”

 

Jiya glances up at him with a look and for a moment she looks almost like her old self.

 

“You’re staying here, Connor.” Denise’s voice is firm.

 

Connor puts his arms up as if in surrender, “I was only wondering just in case they jump somewhere within my realm of expertise.”

 

“Even so,” Denise says. Connor looks slightly put out, but he nods and agrees anyway.

 

“How do you feel about taking your first trip in time?” Connor asks Denise.

 

She thinks of the question for a moment. For the last two years she has sent off her team and waited and stressed over their return, but she had never ventured into the past herself. She still has reservations about it, and is terrified about losing her family, but these are special circumstances.

 

“Jiya and Lucy can’t go alone,” Denise replies.

 

Jiya looks up at her, and Connor nods and says, “Yes, that’s true, but that doesn’t really answer the question.”

 

“I’ll tell you after we get back.”

 

Connor accepts this as the best answer he is going to get and leans against the railing around the platform, looking at Jiya as she returns to her computers. Denise looks back at their Lifeboat and thinks about the rest of her team and hopes that things are going according to plan. She would never know any different if something went horribly wrong, but she doesn’t want to entertain any catastrophizing.

 

Before she has too long to think, the alarm goes off.

 

“Well, that was fast,” Connor says, looking over Jiya’s shoulder.

 

Jiya types furiously for a moment and then her eyes widen. “They’ve jumped to December 7th, 1941, Hawaii.”

 

“I don’t need a historian to tell me what that event is,” Denise says.

 

Lucy rushes into the room having heard the alarm. “Where are we going?” she asks.

 

“’A date which will live in infamy’,” Connor quotes.

 

“Pearl Harbor,” Lucy says breathlessly.

 

Jiya stands up from her chair, all business, “Let’s get going, then,” she says, and goes over to wheel their stairs up to the Lifeboat.

 

Lucy follows her and climbs up into her seat, looking at the place across from her for a moment before buckling herself in. Jiya follows behind her and begins to operate the Lifeboat’s systems. Denise turns around and meets Connor’s eyes for a long moment.

 

“Take care,” he says with a false air of nonchalance.

 

“We will,” she replies, and goes up the stairs. She realizes with a start that she has never actually been inside the Lifeboat before, and she sits down gingerly in the seat while gazing around at the interior covered in tiny buttons, switches, and lights.

 

She reaches back to find the harness to strap herself in but whoever designed this thing decided to include a completely unnecessary number of belts and straps, and the ones for her chair have been tangled so that she can’t seem to figure them out.

 

“Do you need…” Lucy says hesitantly. Denise looks across at her and stops trying to wrestle with the seat.

 

“Be my guest.”

 

Lucy unbuckles herself quickly and leans over to help Denise make sense of the harness. “Thank you,” Denise says once she’s secured in place. Lucy smiles and nods, but Denise catches something in her eyes before she looks away to redo her own buckles. Denise dismisses it as nervousness about the mission at hand because she can’t think of any significance a seatbelt could have.

 

“Are you two ready?” Jiya asks over her shoulder.

 

Denise nods and Lucy answers, “As we’ll ever be.”

 

Jiya flips the last few switches and the door to the Lifeboat shuts them in. Denise hears the sounds of the spinning rings outside and the internal machinery working furiously, and she suddenly feels a huge lurch.

 

For a few excruciating seconds Denise thinks that it will never end. It feels like a combination of the pressure of being in an airplane and being twenty feet underwater at the same time. Then, suddenly, everything stops. Denise unbuckles herself as quickly as she can and as soon as Jiya opens the door she jumps out and is sick in the grass. She stands up unsteadily and wipes her mouth.

 

“Is it like this every time?” she asks Lucy and Jiya who have climbed out of the Lifeboat and are looking at her sympathetically.

 

“You do get used to it, eventually,” Lucy says.

 

Denise sighs and straightens up, “I don’t think I’m going to do this often enough to get used to it.”

 

The sun has just started to rise above the horizon, and once Denise recovers she looks around at where they have landed. They are only a few yards away from a cliff that drops off into the sea. She can see dozens of little rocks and islands dotting the waves as she looks out at the ocean.

 

“The view is definitely an improvement from the usual,” Lucy says, coming to stand next to her.

 

Denise finally starts to feel a bit more herself and turns back to the Lifeboat to find Jiya dutifully covering it with foliage. She goes over to help and Lucy follows along. It only takes them a few minutes to get the Lifeboat well hidden.

 

“So,” Denise says, looking at Lucy, “Where should we start?”

 

“I assume we’re on the island of O’ahu where Pearl Harbor actually is, because otherwise we will have some trouble getting where we need to go. The attack began at 7:48 am, so we only have a couple hours at most before everything here goes to hell. I can tell from where the sun is rising that we are on the south side of the island. We should walk north until we find civilization and start there. Jessica and Emma will almost definitely be at the naval base, so we should move quickly.”

 

Jiya and Denise nod and the three of them set off into the forest.

 

“What do you think they’re doing here?” Jiya asks as they walk, the first time she’s spoken since they landed.

 

Lucy thinks on it for a moment. “It could be any combination of things. The attack on Pearl Harbor was a tactically brilliant move, but in the long run it didn’t prevent the United States from attacking and eventually defeating Japan. It did the opposite, really.”

 

“Would Emma and Jessica just be here to make things worse?” Denise asks.

 

“I would assume they have a sleeper agent who has established himself at the US Naval Base at Pearl Harbor in some way. Although there was substantial loss of life and damage to US ships, practically no damage was incurred on the permanent installations at the base which would have taken much longer to repair. Also, seven of the eight damaged ships were raised and six were returned into service in the war. Rittenhouse could be trying to raze the base completely to deal a more lasting blow to the US’s efforts in the Pacific.”

 

Lucy walks on, hoping that she isn’t right. The three of them may be able to find and neutralize Emma and Jessica because they are both injured and without solid leadership, but Lucy herself is still sore and bruised from the beating she took in Chinatown, and Jiya doesn’t seem particularly focused on the mission at hand. Lucy doesn’t know if they have enough time for the three of them to stop a coordinated attack.

 

After thinking for a moment, Lucy adds, “They could also be after intelligence, I suppose. Rittenhouse could feed information to the Japanese like they did to the Confederacy in the Civil War.”

 

“We have to be prepared for any eventuality,” Denise says.

 

Lucy nods, “The most important thing is that we find Jessica and Emma. This may be our best chance to find the Mothership.”

 

“They have to pay for what they’ve done,” Jiya says, her voice cold as ice.

 

Lucy and Denise glance at each other with matching expressions of concern. “Let’s get to Pearl Harbor first and go from there,” Denise says.

 

They walk for about fifteen minutes before they come upon a road running east to west. Lucy grabs a branch laying on the ground and places it next to the road to mark their place.

 

“I’m almost positive that the base is north and slightly west of us,” Lucy says.

 

They walk on the road to the west. “We’re running out of time,” Denise says, looking at the sun now peeking out above the trees.”

 

The rumble of an engine comes from behind them, and Jiya says, “Let’s catch a ride then,” she jumps into the road in front of the oncoming truck and the driver slams on the brakes, screeching to a halt only a few feet away from her.

 

Jiya goes over to the driver’s side window and finds a man staring at her. He has dark skin and long hair pulled back at the nape of his neck, and she realizes he must be a native Hawaiian. “Hi,” she says.

 

The man does not reply and continues to stare at her with an unreadable expression.

 

“We need to get to Pearl Harbor. To the naval base,” Jiya continues, getting more and more worried that he’s just going to drive off.

 

A few long moments pass in silence, and he looks over at Denise and Lucy and then back at Jiya, their modern clothes terribly out of place next to the man’s truck, which looks like it is from the early 1930s. Jiya is about to ask him if he understood her when he finally speaks.

 

“I can get you close to the base, but I will not go there.”

 

“Thank you,” Jiya says, and she gestures to Lucy and Denise to come over.

 

“But,” the man says, holding up a hand, “you have to ride in the back.”

 

And so, the three of them endure the thirty-minute ride in the bed of the truck, sitting atop huge piles of pineapples. They would laugh at the ridiculousness of it if it didn’t hurt so much to sit on the prickly fruits while driving along the bumpy, unpaved road.

 

At long last, the truck slows to a stop. “You get out here,” he calls back, and they climb down from the truck bed. Denise has to practically catch Lucy because her foot slips on the hubcap and she nearly breaks an ankle falling to the ground.

 

Before he drives off the man leans out of the truck and gives them one last look. “Good luck,” he says, the friendliest thing he has said yet, and leaves without another glance.

 

Jiya stands rubbing the feeling back into her backside and thighs and looks around. They are right next to a crossroad, and Lucy walks over to it and looks to the north. “Well,” she says, “I found the base.”

 

Denise and Jiya go to join her and find that the road leads down a slight hill to a large collection of buildings surrounded by chain link fence. Beyond the buildings is a bay filled with boats, big and small, and across the water is an island with huge battleships docked alongside it.

 

“So,” Jiya says trailing off as she looks at the vast expanse of buildings and equipment below them, “Where should be start?”

 

“We should get to the command center and look for them there, we sh-” Lucy cut herself off and cocks her head to the side.

 

“What is it?” Denise asks, and Lucy shushes her absentmindedly and stares at the western horizon.

 

After another moment, they can all hear a faint but distinct buzzing sound, like a far-off bee colony. “We’re out of time,” Lucy says.

 

Jiya stares west, trying to catch sight of anything, but the sky still looks clear. “If we go down there, what are the chances we get hit with a bomb?”

 

“If we try and stay clear of the water we might have about a fifty-fifty shot of getting out.” Lucy’s eyebrows draw together as she speaks, not happy with their odds.

 

Denise looks at the two of them, and the faint buzzing slowly but surely grows louder. “I don’t like the idea of putting us all in danger, but we’ve survived worse odds time and time again. We have to get down there and see what Rittenhouse has done.”

 

“If we get separated, we should meet back here,” Lucy says.

 

Denise and Jiya both nod, their expressions serious, and the three of them set off down the hill.

 

They hide in the tree line next to the road close to the gate until a canvas covered truck passes by. As it slows down to speak with the guards they rush out and jump into the back. They hoist themselves up and land heavily on the hard floor of the truck, and then look up to find twelve utterly bewildered soldiers staring at them.

 

“Oh, uh, hi,” Lucy manages, “You wouldn’t happen to have any ladies’ uniforms lying around, would you?”

 

Just then the truck moves, and one of the men stands and pounds on the wall between the back of the truck and the driver.

 

“Out, out, out!” Jiya shouts, and they spill out of the back of the truck, which has thankfully made it through the gate already.

 

“This way!” Lucy yells, and they run towards a mid-sized building with a sign that reads ‘Command Center’. They are almost to the doors when the first bomb lands and the entire base erupts into chaos.

 

They duck for cover and run to stand pressed up against the building. Denise scans the surrounding area and takes her sidearm out of its holster, flicking off the safety. She turns to look to their left and sees a door open and a few people run out to look at the sky.

 

“We have to get in there,” she says, and starts running, knowing Lucy and Jiya will follow behind. They enter through the door into a scene of utter chaos. All around them there are men and women rushing around, shouting and occasionally jumping at the sound of a bomb exploding outside.

 

“This way,” Lucy says, seeing a man in uniform striding purposefully down a hallway and follows him. They take a turn and enter through a doorway into what must be the main hub of the command center, because it is filled with people talking loudly into phones and looking at different forms of equipment. There is a palpable feeling of tension in the room.

 

The three of them look around for a moment, and Denise catches a flash of red hair out of the corner of her eye. She turns and spots Emma at the same time Emma catches sight of them. Jessica and an unfamiliar man dressed in a uniform covered in pins carrying a selection of files are standing next to her.

 

“There!” Denise says, and Lucy and Jiya follow her gaze. Emma shouts something and the three of them run off down a hallway.

 

Denise, Lucy, and Jiya take off in pursuit. About halfway down the hallway at a junction the man peels off to the left and Jessica to the right. Emma continues straight.

 

“I’ve got him!” Jiya shouts and tears after the sleeper agent.

 

“I’ll go after Jessica, you get Emma!” Lucy yells to Denise without breaking stride.

 

Denise doesn’t waste time responding and follows Emma down the hallway.

 

-

 

Jiya follows the man through a couple of twists and turns and sees him open a door and shut it quickly behind him. She pushes the door open and the sleeper agent comes at her from the side, knocking her into the door.

 

She looks to the side and sees that he is holding a gun. He steps back and tries to raise his arm to shoot her, and her instincts take over as she lunges forward and grabs his arm, pushing it away from her before using her body as leverage to bend his wrist and force him to drop it.

 

Jiya moves to kick the gun out of reach and the sleeper agent uses it as an opportunity to grab her arm and pull her into a chokehold. He is at her back, his arm tight around her neck, and Jiya closes her eyes, remembering what the girls at the saloon taught her if a man ever tried to come at her from behind.

 

The sleeper tightens his hold around her neck and Jiya grabs onto his arm with both hands before dropping her weight completely on his arm to throw him off balance. He stumbles for a split second and she takes the opportunity to hook her right leg around his and throw her weight forward, putting him on his back. He growls at her and takes a knife out of a sheath in his boot. Jiya jumps backward as he stands and passes the knife from hand to hand.

 

He smiles, and Jiya knows that he thinks he has her. She waits for him to lunge at her first, and when he does she dodges and takes hold of his hand, twisting it behind his back and taking the knife once his grip loosens due to the pain.

 

The sleeper kicks behind him, hitting her shin and causing her to cry out in pain. He turns and swings at her, and Jiya tries to dodge but he still manages to clip her jaw. She reels back, and he comes forward again, but this time she dodges his swing and rushes forward, bringing forward the knife and stabbing him in the gut. Jiya pulls out the blade and stabs him once more in the chest.

 

He stumbles back, blood bubbling to his lips, and falls to the ground, hard. Jiya rubs her jaw and waits for a few seconds, staring that the man she just killed.

 

“That was for Rufus,” she whispers.

 

The sleeper agent had thrown down the folders he was carrying when he entered the room so he had his hands free, and Jiya gathers them up and looks through them. They are filled with pages of blueprints and locations, ammunitions order receipts and communications between officials. It is all obviously confidential and privileged information, and Jiya assumes that Rittenhouse had planned on feeding information to the Japanese, as Lucy had said.

 

Jiya walks into the hallway and sees a woman dressed smartly in a maroon skirt suit. “Here,” she says, “Take these and give them to whoever is in charge. They’ll thank you.” Jiya hands the bewildered woman the folders and turns the opposite direction, leaving before she can reply.

 

She finds an exit and leaves the building. The attack is still happening in full force, and the falling bombs cause the very ground to shudder. Jiya walks back to the entrance they came through and slips through the fence and into the forest. She falls heavily onto the ground, her body aching, and begins to cry, not caring if a bomb comes and falls on her or not.

 

She doesn’t stop for a long time, and when her sobs finally subside she doesn’t really feel much better. Jiya looks at her hands, thinking about how she had killed two men in the space of a few days without a second thought. She can’t bring herself to return to the chaos and destruction of the base, so she picks her body up from the ground and trudges up the hill, resolving to wait for Lucy and Agent Christopher to return.

 

Jiya sits on the ground again and stares at nothing as she waits.

 

-

 

Denise follows Emma down a few hallways and then outside of the building and towards the water. She is about to raise her gun and try to take a few shots when a bomb lands in front of Emma and throws her back against the pavement. Denise runs up to her, ears ringing but otherwise unharmed, and trains her gun at Emma’s chest.

 

Emma looks up at her, dazed from the explosion but still managing a malice-filled expression. “I thought maybe you would all give up after I killed your best pilot. I should have known you wouldn’t stop being a constant pain in my ass.”

 

Underneath her façade of arrogance and bravado, Denise can see that she is just as tired and beaten down as the rest of them.

 

“Are you going to kill me now? Or does that go against your moral code? Not really sure how that works with you people.”

 

Denise looks down at her, the woman who killed Rufus and beat Lucy bloody, who has been complicit in plots to tamper with and change history in the worst ways possible, and who is planning on changing Rittenhouse with herself at the helm. Without her, they have no pilot, and they can no longer use their time machine. Their years-long plight of chasing Rittenhouse through time would be effectively over.

 

“No one hurts my family,” Denise says levelly.

 

She pulls the trigger.

 

She doesn’t take any time to linger, and she searches around for a few minutes trying to find Lucy, the sound of bombs constant in the background. She runs around the Command Center and manages to catch sight of Lucy chasing Jessica behind another building.

 

Denise runs after them and once she rounds the corner she sees Jessica and Lucy on the ground, grappling with each other. Jessica pushes Lucy off of her, hard, and scrambles to stand. Denise raises her gun and points it at her. Jessica freezes and stares at the two of them.

 

“Are you really going to shoot me, Agent Christopher?” she says, out of breath, hands raised.

 

They stare at each other for a moment, but Denise doesn’t lower her gun. “Stand with your back against the wall.”

 

Jessica looks at her in disbelief for a few seconds, and when Denise doesn’t stand down she scoffs and walks over to the wall, leaning against it casually.

 

“What now?” she says.

 

Denise goes over to her and pats her down, lifting up her shirt and taking a gun out of her waistband, and then goes to stand a few feet away from Lucy. Lucy doesn’t take her eyes off of Jessica as she speaks to Denise, “Where’s Emma?”

 

“Dead,” Denise replies, and she sees a slight twitch in Jessica’s expression.

 

Lucy’s shoulders sag, and Denise can’t tell if it’s in sorrow or relief. “Denise, I want you to go and find Jiya. She shouldn’t be on her own,” Lucy says.

 

Denise looks between Lucy and Jessica. “Are you sure?” she says.

 

Lucy holds out her hand and Denise hands her Jessica’s gun. “I’m sure,” she says.

 

Denise looks at her for a moment, but she trusts Lucy, so she nods and walks away.

 

She looks for Jiya first outside the Command Center and among the people still rushing about the base, and when she doesn’t find her there she continues to the rendezvous point. Denise catches sight of Jiya at the top of the hill before Jiya sees her. She is sitting on the side of the road, close to the trees, hugging her knees into her chest and staring into space.

 

Denise approaches her and kneels down next to her. “Jiya? Are you alright?” Only when she speaks does Jiya seem to notice her and look up, shaken out of her trance.

 

Jiya doesn’t answer, but Denise sees the bruises on her face and neck and the red around her eyes like she has been crying, and she puts her arms around her. Jiya leans into her and sniffles.

 

They stay like that for a long time.

 

-

 

Jessica regards Lucy with an unreadable expression.

 

“I’m sorry, Lucy,” she says.

 

“For what?” Lucy asks.

 

“For Rufus. I didn’t want any of you to die.”

 

Lucy regards the woman across from her with tight lips. “I have a really hard time believing that.”

 

Jessica flinches slightly as a bomb lands not too far from them. She puts a hand to her stomach, seemingly subconsciously, and Lucy feels a stab of hurt thinking about Wyatt.

 

“All Wyatt wanted was to get you back, and you used him. You used all of us.”

 

“I did what I had to,” Jessica says.

 

Lucy tightens her grip on the gun but keeps her finger off the trigger. “For what, Jessica? Emma killed your superiors and you followed along with it, making you a traitor to Rittenhouse. Something tells me an evil undercover organization dedicated to destroying history isn’t very forgiving.”

 

Jessica’s face hardens, but she doesn’t reply. Lucy points the gun at her, not intending on using it, and says, “Take me to the Mothership.”

 

“You’ll have to shoot me and find it yourself,” Jessica says defiantly.

 

Lucy stares at her for a few tense seconds, and then she relaxes slightly. “You would let me kill you, _pregnant_ you, all for loyalty to Rittenhouse?” Lucy asks incredulously.

 

Something in her words must mean something to Jessica, because her face falls slightly. Lucy continues, hoping she is getting through to her. “Just show me where the Mothership is and come with us, Jessica. We can work something out.”

 

Jessica lets out a humorless laugh. “Come back with you and have Flynn trying to kill me and Wyatt take my baby from me? Would you keep me locked up in your bunker for the rest of my life? Thanks, but I’ll pass.”

 

Lucy lowers the gun and huffs out a breath. She is so angry at Jessica for coming into their lives and making them trust her before betraying them all and breaking Wyatt’s heart. “It would be more than you deserve,” she says.

 

They lock eyes, and for a long time neither of them says anything. Jessica must find something in Lucy’s face, because she breaks their standoff and the silence. “I’ll show you where the Mothership is on one condition,” she says.

 

Lucy considers this and then replies, “I’m listening.”

 

“Leave me here,” Jessica says, “You can do whatever you want with the Mothership, but you let me go free.”

 

Lucy is surprised by this, “Why would you want to do that?” she gestures at their surroundings, “The United States is about to enter World War Two and you are a single, pregnant woman who knows absolutely no one in 1941.”

 

Jessica looks at her, and Lucy can see a hint of emotion in her eyes, “I made a promise, and this is how I can keep it and still live with myself.”

 

“Would you continue to damage history if you remained here?”

 

Jessica meets Lucy’s eyes, and when she speaks again all the venom is gone from her voice. “No. I swear on my life.”

 

Lucy gives her a hard look, “I don’t think I can bet on that.”

 

Jessica looks down and puts a hand to her stomach and says, “I swear on my child’s life.”

 

Something in Jessica’s words and the look on her face leads Lucy to believe her despite her misgivings. “Okay, Jessica,” she says, feeling exhausted, “Show me to the Mothership.”

 

Jessica nods and starts to walk. She leads Lucy along the chain link fence to an entrance on the other side of the complex where they slip through, unnoticed. They walk up the road for a few minutes, the silence between them heavy.

 

They turn left into the forest, and they only walk a few yards before they come upon the first piece of wreckage. The further they walk, the more smoking chunks of twisted metal litter their path and the surrounding trees go from being slightly singed to completely burned. They come upon a slight clearing, and both of them gasp at the sight before them.

 

The Mothership looks like it imploded, the entire sphere blasted apart and folded in on itself. Only a few pieces of it show the white of the exterior. All of the internal compartments have been twisted and melted beyond recognition.

 

Lucy feels a cathartic thrill of relief seeing the destroyed remains of what started all of this in the first place.

 

“Something must have happened to disrupt the nuclear core,” Jessica says, kneeling down to look at the wreckage.

 

“Wouldn’t the nuclear core exploding level the entire island?” Lucy says, looking around at the destruction.

 

Jessica touches a piece of melted metal. “The Mothership itself must have taken the brunt of the explosion,” she says.

 

They stay there without speaking for a long time, taking in the sight of the destruction around them. The Mothership has been destroyed so thoroughly that Lucy isn’t worried about anyone from this time finding it and using the technology. There is nothing to be salvaged.

 

After another few minutes Jessica tears her eyes away from the ruins and turns to look at Lucy. “So, are you going to object to me staying?”

 

Lucy sighs, “No, I won’t try and stop you, but I hope you are sure this is what you want.”

 

“It is,” Jessica says with finality. “There’s one more thing I have to ask of you,” she adds.

 

Lucy looks at her and waits for her to speak.

 

“I don’t want you to tell Wyatt that I decided to stay here. I want you to tell him that you never found me, that the Mothership was destroyed, and that you don’t know if I am dead or alive. It’ll be easier for everyone, that way,” Jessica says.

 

“You know that would tear him apart,” Lucy says.

 

“Yes,” Jessica replies, all her anger and combativeness gone, “but it will also set him free. Set both of us free.”

 

Lucy looks at her and searches her face for a moment, seeing only steely determination. She nods.

 

The two of them walk away from the wreckage of the Mothership until they reach the road. Jessica gives Lucy a look, her last look at someone familiar before becoming lost in the past, and then she walks down the road away from the base. Neither of them says any goodbyes.

 

Lucy watches her for a moment, thinking about how difficult it will be to keep this secret from Wyatt, and then she sees Jessica glance back over her shoulder at the smoke rising above the trees, hand to her stomach, and Lucy decides firmly that she can fulfill Jessica’s last wish. She looks on at Jessica’s retreating figure for a moment more before turning the opposite direction and walking back to the base. When she gets there, she takes a moment to regard the complex. The main buildings of the base appear to be mostly undamaged, and most of the smoke is coming from the harbor and the island. The attack played out more or less as it should have.

 

Instead of trying to go back through the base and risk being stopped Lucy follows the fence to the entrance they came through and starts up the hill. She reaches the top and finds Jiya and Denise sitting together, shoulder to shoulder, waiting for her. They stand when they catch sight of her

 

“Where’s Jessica?” Denise asks.

 

Lucy explains to them what happened and makes them swear not to tell Wyatt. As she is speaking they start walking down the road, Denise occasionally looking over at Jiya and Lucy with an expression of concern. Once Lucy has finished, Jiya tells them she took out the sleeper agent and returned the covert information in a clipped monotone. After that, none of them speak, too lost in their own thoughts. They walk down the road mostly in silence.

 

No cars are driving on the road, probably due to the attack, so they have to go the entire way back to the Lifeboat on foot. Despite having technically achieved what they have been striving to for the last two years, none of them feel very joyful.

 

It takes over an hour, but they finally turn into the forest and walk through the trees, eventually coming upon the Lifeboat. Jiya opens the door and climbs in, with Denise following and then helping Lucy up.

 

They strap themselves in, and this time Denise manages it by herself, and then Jiya flips a few more switches and the Lifeboat lurches into motion. Denise clenches her fists throughout the duration of the horrible ride, holding on to the knowledge that she will never have to do this again.

 

They slam to a halt and the three of them get unbuckled and climb out. Denise can’t remember ever being happier to be in the bunker.

 

Connor is waiting outside the Lifeboat. He sees Jiya’s bruises and the melancholy expressions on their faces, but he seems to realize now is not the time to ask questions. “Thank god you’re back,” he says, “I was getting nervous here all on my own.”

 

His tone is joking, but Lucy can see the worry in his face. He must have been frightened that none of them were going to come back at all.

 

Denise explains what happened to him, changing the story a bit to say they lost Jessica so that he doesn't have to keep the secret from Wyatt, too. After they all go to shower and change, and then they congregate in the living room space, all waiting nervously for the second Lifeboat to arrive.


	4. Part Four: The Return (1)

The Lifeboat lands and the rings on the outside spin to a stop. Connor and Agent Christopher walk forward, anxious and expectant, holding their breath as they wait for the door to open.

 

Jiya is the first to emerge and they are so happy to see her they both break into breathless laughter.

 

“Jiya,” Agent Christopher says, smiling widely, “You’re alive!”

 

“Oh, I knew you could do it!” Connor says.

 

The rest of the team exits the Lifeboat and a sort of awkward silence falls as Connor and Christopher look at the four of them.

 

“Where’s Rufus?” Christopher asks.

 

Jiya, Lucy, Wyatt, and Flynn all look at each other, still a bit shell shocked.

 

“That’s a bit hard to explain,” Lucy says.

 

Agent Christopher turns to her and sees her bloody face and the guarded way she is holding her body and goes immediately to the kitchen to grab ice from the freezer. “Before you explain it to us,” she says as she hands the ice to Lucy for her face, “Is anyone seriously hurt?”

 

There is a pause where everyone glances at each other to see if anyone sustained any lasting injuries.

 

“I was shot,” Flynn says, gesturing at his bloody arm, “but I can wait until we sort out this shit-show to get that taken care of.”

 

Connor squints at him. “Well, alright then,” he says, “Can someone tell me where the hell is Rufus?”

 

“He’s in the future,” Jiya says levelly.

 

Connor and Christopher look at her with strange looks on their faces. “And by that you mean… what?” Christopher says.

 

“Our future selves went into the past to save Rufus from dying in Chinatown and in order to preserve the timeline and save Rufus’ life they had to take him into the future with them.”

 

There is another pause. “Is that true?” Connor asks, looking around at everyone.

 

Lucy, Wyatt, and Flynn all nod.

 

“You’ll see for yourself, soon enough,” Lucy says.

 

“How?” Christopher asks.

 

“We’re locked in a paradox,” Flynn says, sounding absolutely done with the entire situation.

 

Connor shakes his head as if to clear it and says, “You have got to be kidding me.”

 

“We have barely had any time to process it ourselves. I wish we could explain it all to you, but I think the best thing to do is just wait until our future selves show up and then this will all make more sense to everyone,” Lucy says. She pauses for a moment, and then adds, “Or it might make less sense, we’ll see.”

 

Christopher looks at her and says, “Okay,” drawing out the word. “Do you know how long it will be until they arrive?”

 

“They said we would see Rufus again ‘soon’, so I assume it will be in the next few days,” Wyatt says.

 

“Alright. You should all get some rest. You look exhausted,” Christopher says, looking around at the team again and seeing how dusty and tired they all are.

 

The four of them nod and disperse, Jiya towards her room, Wyatt down another hall, and Flynn towards their makeshift medical center with Lucy following behind him after a moment.

 

Connor and Christopher look at each other, both of their expressions twisted in confusion. “Did that make any sense to you?” Christopher asks him.

 

“I wish I could say yes, but I honestly think we are in the same boat here,” he replies. They both nod and think about what the team said.

 

“I guess we’ll see once our mysterious visitors arrive,” Connor adds.

 

“I guess so,” Christopher says. Connor nods at her again and walks away in the same direction as Jiya.

 

Agent Christopher sits down heavily on a chair and lets out a deep breath, simply relieved that her entire team is safe in some way, shape, or form.

 

-

 

Jiya goes to the bedroom she shares with Lucy, walking faster and faster as she nears the door. She shuts herself in the room and lays down on the bed, relaxing each part of her body in turn.

 

She clears her mind and focuses on Rufus, the shape of his smile, the timbre of his voice, the smell of his detergent, the feeling of his arms around her, and she is thrown into a collection of visions.

 

Jiya cannot see him anywhere in the past, but when she directs her sight to the future, she is met with a flood of visions of him.

 

She sees Rufus knocking on the bright blue door of an apartment and practically jumping up and down with nerves as he waits for an answer. Jiya herself answers the door and throws herself into his arms.

 

She sees Rufus sitting down at a table across from a woman in a smart suit as she interviews him for a job. He is flustered answering her questions, but at the end of the interview she offers him a position and shakes his hand with a smile on her face.

 

She sees Rufus going into an animal shelter and adopting a grey cat with black markings along its back and putting a bow around its neck. He takes it home and waits in the living room until the door opens and Jiya comes through, gasping at the sight of the cat and taking it into her arms.

 

She sees Rufus sitting in a bed with his back against the headboard, a collection of his things on the end table next to him. Jiya enters the room from the bathroom and climbs into the other side of the bed and kisses Rufus. He chuckles and kisses her back, this time with more heat in it, and rolls them over so he is on top of her.

 

She sees Rufus sitting across a kitchen table from Wyatt and Lucy with Jiya sitting next to him.

 

_Jiya._

 

She sees Rufus playing video games with Jiya sitting next to him, beating him.

 

_Jiya._

 

She sees Rufus, again and again and again, smiling and crying and laughing and yelling and _alive._

 

_Jiya!_

 

The voice breaks Jiya out of her trance and she sits up on the bed, gasping wildly, and finds Connor sitting next to her, looking concerned.

 

“I found him,” she says breathlessly, “I looked, and I found Rufus _everywhere_. I saw our whole life together.”

 

Connor smiles and puts a hand on her shoulder. Jiya looks at him and sees that he isn’t smiling along with her. “Can you promise me you won’t get lost in your head in the time we have to wait for him?” he says to her, voice thick.

 

Jiya looks at Connor and smiles, knowing now that the wait will be worth it one hundred times over. “I promise, Connor. You don’t have to worry about me.”

 

He pulls her into a hug and she puts her arms around his back. After a few moments he pulls back. “I’ll leave you alone to get some rest, then,” he says.

 

Jiya nods, “Good night.”

 

Connor takes one last look at her and then leaves the room, shutting the door firmly behind him. Jiya lays back in her bed and thinks on all of the wonderful things she saw, practically overwhelmed by all of it. Then, she thinks about the next five years, and it only takes her a few moments of thinking to decide what she is going to do.

 

She can’t stay here with the team for the next five years, trying to fight bad guys and traveling through time without Rufus by her side. Jiya knows she would rather make a new life for herself without all of the constant reminders while she waits. She resolves to tell everyone in the morning, preparing herself for the inevitable fight she will have to have with everyone in order to allow her to leave.

 

-

 

Flynn walks down the hallway, holding his arm tightly. He uses his shoulder to push open the door to their medical room and immediately strides over to their makeshift operating table and sits down.

 

Lucy walks into the room after him and eyes him warily, staying a few feet away as he unwraps the bloodstained fabric he had tied on his arm.

 

He starts to try and remove his jacket and grunts in pain. Lucy steps forward, startled out of her reverie. “Do you want some help?” she says, sounding unsure, her hands up as if to indicate she will not do any harm.

 

Flynn sighs, and he almost wants to tell her to go and suffer through disrobing with a gunshot wound instead of through the conversation she is bound to start. However, his arm is starting to throb, and he needs to extract the bullet in his arm soon if he wants to avoid infection.

 

“Be my guest,” he says. Lucy comes forward and around the table so she is standing behind him. She helps him out of the maroon jacket, now a bit covered in dust and stained with blood. He unties his cravat and tosses it onto the floor as Lucy comes around the table and starts to unbutton his vest. With him sitting on the table their faces are almost level, and he looks across at her bowed head as she finished with the buttons and goes around the table again to remove the vest. She returns to unbutton his shirt, resolutely not looking at him.

 

“Lucy,” he says, and she glances up to meet his eyes, her hands still on his shirt, “Usually when someone undresses me they offer up a bit more conversation.”

 

She huffs out a breath that could be an exasperated sigh and could be a laugh and returns to his shirt. He manages to extract his left arm from the sleeve, but when he looks over to his right the fabric has been matted with blood and practically glued to his skin. Flynn reaches down and removes a small knife from his waistband and moves to slice through the sleeve.

 

“Wait,” Lucy says, putting her hand on his, “Let me. You’re going to hurt yourself.”

 

Flynn gives her a look, but he hands her the knife. She starts in on the fabric, and although she looks slightly queasy and for a moment he thinks she might faint on the floor, she cuts roughly through the sleeve and up to the collar so that the shirt falls to the floor in tatters.

 

Lucy sets down the knife and grabs a rag from a pile on a nearby table before walking over to the rusty sink in the corner of the room. She turns on the faucet and soaks the rag, wringing it out before shutting off the water and coming back over to Flynn. She uses it to clean the area around his gunshot so that the small puckered hole in his arm is clearly visible.

 

“I thought blood made you nauseous,” he says, breaking her concentration.

 

“I’ve had to get used to it these last couple years,” She replies. She picks the knife back up and sterilizes it with hydrogen peroxide. Lucy hands Flynn the knife and says, “But this part you’re going to have to do on your own.”

 

Flynn nods and turns to look at his wound, not wanting to prolong the process, and uses the knife to create an x-shaped incision over the hole. He sets down the knife, breathing hard, and digs his fingers into the opening. Thankfully, the bullet isn’t hard to find, and he draws it out and lets the warped ball of metal clink on the table, letting out a deep breath.

 

Lucy is standing next to him, looking like she is torn between reaching out a hand and turning away. She takes the rag and wipes off the wound which is bleeding anew.

 

“How are you with a needle and thread?” Flynn asks, “I could do it myself, but my left-handed stitches do leave something to be desired.”

 

“I’m okay,” Lucy says, and she retrieves their stitching kit from a shelf on the wall. She takes out the curved needle and clear synthetic thread. “Agent Christopher made us all do crash courses in basic medical care once we moved to the bunker.”

 

She uses the hydrogen peroxide to sterilize the needle and starts in on her stitches. Flynn watches her serious expression as she carefully pulls together the flesh using six neat stitches. He grabs the bottle of hydrogen peroxide and pours some of it on the wound. Lucy finds a roll of bandages and covers it up. She takes a step back and glances around the room, going to open a few drawers until she finds a sling for him. Flynn dutifully puts it on.

 

Now, with all the busy work done, the silence hangs between them heavily. Flynn looks steadily at Lucy, and she meets his eyes for a moment before glancing away.

 

“So,” she says, walking over to lean on the table next to where he is sitting, leaving a careful few inches of space between them, “Should we talk about it?”

 

“What’s there to talk about?” he says.

 

Lucy gives him a withering look, “Oh, I don’t know,” she says, voice dripping with sarcasm, “The weather, politics, our future selves crossing over their own timeline.”

 

“I don’t see much point in speculating over it since it’s all inevitable anyway.” Flynn can’t muster up any of his usual bite to his words, too exhausted by the events of the last couple of days.

 

There is a silence between them, and when Flynn looks over at Lucy she is already gazing back at him, something serious in her eyes.

 

“If you want to ask me something, just say it,” he says, maintaining eye contact.

 

“I’m just surprised that you stay here as a part of the team for years to come. The way I see it, it has always been just a matter of time until you walked away once you had no more use for us.”

 

She doesn’t ask the question, but he hears it anyway in her words. “You want to know why I stay,” he says plainly.

 

Lucy is still looking at him, and Flynn notices that they have both subconsciously leaned forward slightly. He does nothing to correct this.

 

“It’s pretty much the same question I asked you in Chinatown that you never got to answer. Why are you here if you don’t give a damn about any of this?” she asks, her voice slightly raised.

 

“Because I do,” he answers simply.

 

“You do what, Flynn?” she shoots back, confused.

 

He sighs, knowing they are about to enter into the place of no return they have been dancing around for weeks now. “I do give a damn, Lucy. I give a damn about you. I am here because of _you_.”

 

Flynn’s words hang in the air, and he knows that he may never get a chance like this again, so before Lucy has a chance to reply he speaks again, this time much softer and gentler than he would with anyone else. “I care about you, Lucy.”

 

The moment hangs between them on a fragile thread, and Flynn doesn’t dare move because it may break. Lucy searches his face with a slightly amazed expression and he sees indecision there, and uncertainty, and he resolves to swallow his pride and back away from her, excusing himself and apologizing for the whole thing.

 

Lucy stops him. “I understand, now,” she says, placing her hand over his on the table, “this is why you stay.”

 

She leans forward and presses her lips to his.

 

Flynn is so shocked that for a moment he remains completely still, but he recovers quickly and hesitantly moves to reciprocate, not wanting to scare her away. He kisses her back, slowly at first, and then Lucy brings up her arm to cup behind his neck and pull him closer, opening her mouth and deepening the kiss. Flynn responds in kind, reaching to place a hand on her waist, but lost in the moment he forgets about his gunshot wound and grunts in pain as he strains against the stitches.

 

Lucy pulls back immediately, a worried expression on her face, “Did I hurt you?” she says.

 

Flynn looks up at her, a sarcastic quip on the tip of his tongue, but instead he smiles at her and says, “Lucy, you did the opposite of hurting me.”

 

She smiles back at him. “Due to your gunshot wound and both of our need for sleep, I think we should retire for the night.” Lucy steps away from the table and Flynn gets down, much more aware now that he’s still shirtless.

 

Lucy must see something in his face because she steps forward and presses a kiss to his lips, short and chaste, before stepping back again. “We can talk about this in the morning,” she says.

 

Flynn nods, looking at her still with an expression akin to awe. “Goodnight, Lucy,” he says.

 

“Goodnight, Flynn,” she replies, and turns to leave the room. She has her hand on the door handle when he calls out to her.

 

“Lucy.”

 

She turns and looks at him expectantly. When he speaks again, he is uncharacteristically awkward and hesitant.

 

“You can call me by my first name,” he says and then adds after a moment, “If you want.”

 

Lucy smiles at him. “Okay,” she says, “Goodnight, Garcia.” She gives him one last look and then walks out the door.

 

Flynn leans back against the table heavily with a sigh, feeling it shift slightly behind him. He remains there for a while, going over the previous few minutes in his head over and over again. For the first time in years he feels a peculiar light feeling in his chest, and it takes him a moment to pinpoint what it is.

 

_Hope_ , he thinks. Real, genuine hope for the future.

 

He leaves the room with a smile on his face.

 

-

 

Wyatt leaves the living room and goes immediately to gather up some clothes and go take a shower. He stands in the warm spray of the water for longer than he should, washing away the dirt and grime of Chinatown and trying to get his head on straight about everything they just saw.

 

He can still feel the burning shock and confusion of watching Flynn die beneath his hands one minute and seeing him alive and well the next. And, in the confusion of it all, they managed to lose Jessica and Emma.

 

Wyatt thinks about Jessica, and about their child, and he clenches both his fists in an effort to stop himself from punching the wall. He shuts off the water and runs his hands through his hair, pulling at the strands to snap himself out of his brooding.

 

He dries off and gets dressed, and although he feels completely exhausted, he doesn’t feel quite ready to return to the room he recently shared with his wife and try to quiet his mind enough to go to sleep. Wyatt wanders through the compound a bit before returning to the living space near the Lifeboat. He almost expects someone to be there, doing the same thing as him, but the space is deserted. Wyatt leans up against the wall and slides down it until he is sitting down, feeling all the aches and pains in his body.

 

The Lifeboat looks the same as it always does, and Wyatt has a hard time believing that in the foreseeable future they will be able to upgrade it enough to cross over their own timelines. It’s too late now, but he would have killed for that chance before Jessica came back. He could have brought her back the right way, kept out of Rittenhouse’s hands. They could have had a normal life together. But, she came back, and he realized that they could never actually have that life, not only because Jess was a part of Rittenhouse, but also because he had finally moved on.

 

“Hey.”

 

Wyatt jumps a little, having not noticed Lucy walk up to him because he was so lost in his thoughts. He runs a hand over his face, “Hey,” he replies.

 

Lucy sits next to him, and Wyatt takes a long look at her, taking in the cuts and bruises Emma left her with. He feels his heart jump into his throat looking at her and thinking back on the events of Chinatown.

 

“This is all my fault,” he says. Lucy looks over at him, eyebrows raised. Wyatt continues, “If I had done my job in the first place and protected you and Rufus like I’m supposed to, none of this would have happened. Rufus would be back with us and you wouldn’t have gotten the crap beaten out of you.” Wyatt takes a deep breath, and he feels a telltale hitch in the back of his throat. “I messed it all up, just like I did with us.”

 

Lucy looks straight ahead, and Wyatt can just see the corner of her mouth turned up in an ironic smile. “It’s true,” she says, “You did mess things up with us.” She chuckles, and Wyatt can’t help but let out a self-deprecating chuckle, too. She looks at him now, and her smile seems more genuine, soft and sad as it is. “But none of the rest of this is on you. Don’t you get it, Wyatt? You _did_ do your job and keep everyone safe. No matter how much it hurts my head to think about it, I know that I saw three Wyatt Logans today, and each one of them protected us.”

 

Wyatt can’t look at her, but he knows if he doesn’t say it he’ll never forgive himself. “I love you, Lucy,” he says, and he feels a simultaneous rush of relief and shame at finally telling her the truth at the absolute worst time. “You don’t have to say it back,” he says, “You don’t have to say anything. I just should have said it a long time ago, so I’m saying it now.”

 

He is about to go on, resolving himself to Lucy’s silence, but she turns to look at him and says, “Wyatt.”

 

He stops and returns her gaze, terrified at what she’s going to say. She continues, “Things are obviously messy right now and we both know that we can’t just act like nothing ever happened. We both have too much baggage holding us down, and if we don’t let it go all this guilt and tension will crush us. I love you, Wyatt, maybe not in the same way, but you know I would do anything for you. You’re my family.”

 

For a few moments all Wyatt can do is stare at her. He hadn’t expected her to say anything, and maybe it’s not the answer he wanted, but he thinks it might be the one he needed.

 

“Yeah,” he says, swallowing the lump in his throat, “Family.”

 

Lucy holds his eyes for a moment before looking over at the Lifeboat. Her expression grows thoughtful. “I just can’t believe Rufus isn’t here. And won’t be here,” she says.

 

Wyatt chuckles. “He wanted me to tell you. In five years, he is really going to be telling me, ‘It’s about damn time’.”

 

“Five years,” Lucy murmurs, more to herself that to him.

 

They sit together in companionable silence for a couple minutes, and Wyatt is endlessly glad that the air between them has been cleared.

 

He is about to stand and go to bed, his eyelids starting to droop with exhaustion, when he hears a soft rattling.

 

“What the…” he says, trailing off as Lucy rises to her feet and looks around, the sound getting louder.

 

The entire room starts to shake and then there is one moment of perfect stillness before a second Lifeboat pops into existence alongside the first.


	5. Part Five: The Return (2)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just an FYI that the rating does increase to mature in this chapter.

The second Lifeboat pops into existence, once again nudging the other Lifeboat to the side. Despite having seen it before, Lucy, Jiya, Agent Christopher, and Connor are all still shocked at the sight. They wait and hold their breath as the door to the Lifeboat hisses open, and Wyatt and Flynn step out, followed by Rufus, with El and Logan behind him.

 

“Rufus!” Jiya cries out as she runs forward. Rufus jumps down off of the Lifeboat and meets her halfway, hugging her tightly and lifting her up, spinning the two of them in a circle. When he pulls away slightly he sees that there are tears streaming down Jiya’s face.

 

“What is it?” he says, lifting up his hands to cup her face and wipe away the tears with his thumbs. Jiya is still smiling, but her voice hitches when she tries to speak.

 

“What do you think it is?” she asks, hiccupping, “You _died_ , Rufus. I thought I was never going to see you again.”

 

Rufus pulls her into a hug again and holds her tightly to his chest, murmuring comforting words in her ear.

 

Everyone looks at them for a few moments, most with soft smiles on their faces. El is the first one to shake her head and look at them closer, finally registering what Jiya has said.

 

“Wait,” El says, taking a step forward. Everyone turns to look at her, and before she speaks again Logan seems to get it, too, and his smile quickly turns into a confused frown. “What do you mean, Rufus died? We just saved him. That timeline has been changed.”

 

Jiya pulls away from Rufus slightly and wipes her face. She looks at El and then back at Christopher and Lucy with a questioning look in her eye.

 

“I remember Rufus dying, too,” Lucy says, speaking slowly and pinching the bridge of her nose.

 

Christopher looks at her and Jiya with concern and says, “I remember you all coming back without Rufus and telling me he was dead.”

 

Logan and El look at each other and then Logan leans over and says something into her ear, and El murmurs a reply back to him.

 

“Care to share with the class?” Flynn says, looking just as confused as the rest of the room.

 

The two are silent for a moment before having a silent conversation consisting only of looks and eyebrow movements before they turn back to everyone else.

 

“We would think that since we went back and changed the past, our perception would change automatically and all of us wouldn’t remember Rufus actually dying, we would only remember saving him,” Logan says.

 

“But?” Lucy asks.

 

“But… El and I still remember both versions of Chinatown. We both remember Rufus dying _and_ we remember saving him.” Logan seems just as perplexed as everyone else about his memory.

 

“So, let me get this straight,” Christopher says, and everyone turns to give her their attention, “Our past has been changed, but none of us remember it?”

 

“It seems like that is the case, yes,” El says matter-of-factly.

 

While this entire exchange has been going on, Connor has been watching them all with a strange mix of confusion and excitement on his face. He raises his hand slightly, almost absentmindedly, and Jiya catches the movement and looks over at him. She examines his dazed expression for a moment before asking, “Connor, what’s up?”

 

He is jolted out of his daze and looks at her before glancing around at the room. “I don’t remember Rufus being dead.”

 

There is a short silence where everyone seems to take a collective breath, not knowing what to say.

 

“And I think I know why,” Connor says.

 

“Care to enlighten us?” Flynn says, sounding frustrated.

 

Connor looks up at the ceiling while tapping his toe. “I don’t know if I will be able to explain it to you all in a way that makes sense, but I’ll do my best.”

 

Christopher rolls her eyes, familiar with Connor’s theatrics, “We’ll do our best to understand. Now, could you please fill us in?”

 

He nods and begins to pace around the room as he speaks. “In the original timeline, as you have all said you remember, Rufus was killed on your mission to retrieve Jiya from Chinatown. From what I remember, the four of you-” he cuts off, looking over at El and Logan, “Well, Lucy, Flynn, Wyatt, and Jiya, returned and explained to me and Agent Christopher that your past selves had intervened in Chinatown and that they were taking Rufus into the future with them. Then, Jiya and Wyatt, you two went to your rooms and Lucy and Flynn went to the medical room.”

 

Lucy and Flynn glance at each other, both looking wildly confused.

 

Connor continues, turning to Jiya, “I went to speak with Jiya and found you enthralled in one of your visions. I shook you out of it and you told me you had seen your and Rufus’ life together. Then I returned to my own room and tried to get some sleep, but I was woken up by a rumbling sound. When I entered this room, I saw Lucy and Wyatt standing together. Everyone else soon followed, and then these two showed up.” He gestures at El and Logan, who are both looking at him with expressions of consternation.

 

“Now,” Connor says, smiling lightly, “Does that sound familiar to any of you?”

 

They are all dumbfounded for a moment, and then Wyatt says, “No. That’s not how it happened.”

 

“I don’t remember that, either,” Jiya says, still holding on to Rufus’ arm.

 

Lucy and Flynn both shake their heads.

 

“How is that possible?” Christopher asks Connor, “How could we all have memories of a series of events that technically never happened?”

 

“This is where it all gets a bit… theoretical,” Connor says.

 

Flynn scoffs at this.

 

Connor continues, ignoring him, “I think that since all of you were traveling in time when history was changed, you were removed from the timeline and therefore your perception was not affected by the change. Even those of you who were there, again, should now merely have two versions of the same event in your head.”

 

“But how can we still be here, remembering one thing, when the very events leading up to us being here have changed because we changed them?” El asks.

 

“Because it’s a closed loop,” Rufus says softly, more to himself than to anyone else.

 

“What did you say?” Logan asks.

 

Rufus looks up and starts slightly, and when he speaks his words are rushed, “I think that the events between Lucy, Wyatt, Flynn, and Jiya coming home from Chinatown the first time and El and Logan appearing in their Lifeboat are a part of a time loop.”

 

“Yeah, still not getting what a time loop is, buddy,” Wyatt says.

 

Connor cuts in again, “Basically, you created an infinite number of alternate timelines by alternating history and creating a paradox, but they seem to have contained themselves inside the period of time Rufus just outlined. Since you all jumped after that time, removing yourselves from the timeline, you have escaped the loop.”

 

Jiya shakes her head, “So, we all remember one version of reality, but it never happened?”

 

“No, that’s just the thing, Jiya,” Connor says, sounding excited, “It _did_ happen, as did the events I remember in addition to an infinite number of other series of events that we will never know about because we are out of the loop.”

 

“So, when we go back in five years, will everything be different?” Lucy asks, looking over at Wyatt and Flynn.

 

“That’s the most fascinating part. I think it will all be the same, and you will come back to a present where Rufus is dead and we have to go back and save him, because that is what must happen in order to preserve the loop,” Connor says.

 

“I don’t really think I’m getting this,” Wyatt says.

 

“Crazy as it sounds, I think I do,” Jiya says.

 

“How?” Lucy asks.

 

“When El and Logan first got here, I was terrified of going back to save Rufus because I thought the damage to time could be catastrophic, but Connor told me to trust the paradox, and so I did. We are never going to be able to fully wrap our heads around it all because the human mind was not meant to make sense of paradoxes, but because of whatever we did to upgrade the Lifeboat, it _is_ ,” Jiya finished, breathless.

 

“What you’re telling me is that the answer is ‘There is no answer’?” Flynn grumbles.

 

“Basically… yeah,” Jiya says. Rufus smiles at her warmly.

 

“I think that’s about as good of an explanation as we’re ever going to get,” El says, the corner of her mouth turned up.

 

Christopher looks over at her and Logan, still standing in front of their Lifeboat. “What now?” she asks.

 

Logan looks at Rufus and Jiya regretfully. “We can’t stay for long,” he says.

 

“We truly are sorry about this,” El adds, “But it’s the way it has to be. Rufus can’t stay here.”

 

Despite knowing this already, Jiya’s face falls, and Lucy feels an ache deep in her chest at the thought of not seeing Rufus for so many years.

 

“But,” Logan says, catching everyone attention immediately, “After a five person jump we should recharge for at least a little while. No point in taking any stupid chances. We’ll stay for about an hour, and then we have to go.”

 

El nods at him and then calls out, “You got that, Rufus?”

 

Rufus and Jiya are already halfway down the hall and, without looking back, Rufus calls out, “Yep, one hour, got it. Clock is ticking and all that.”

 

Everyone watches them leave with expressions varying from exasperation to outright amusement.

 

“Well,” Wyatt says, still smiling slightly, “I’m going to go shower and change out of these clothes. I promise not to miss saying goodbye to Rufus.”

 

He starts off down the hallway, and Lucy turns to follow him with a determined expression on her face. Christopher steps forward and stops her. “I think he’ll take it better coming from me,” Christopher says. Lucy looks as if she is going to protest, but Christopher gives her a look and she backs down.

 

“Okay,” she says, and looks after them as Christopher goes after Wyatt down the hallway.

 

Lucy turns back to look at the rest of the people in the common room for a moment, but instead of returning she goes down a different hallway. Connor looks in the direction she goes for a few seconds before following after her, leaving El, Logan, and Flynn alone together.

 

Flynn regards the two of them pensively. “I would like a word,” he says, looking straight at El, “Alone,” he adds, directing this at Logan.

 

Logan locks eyes with El, and she nods at him and smiles. He shrugs and turns around, going off to occupy himself somewhere for a while.

 

“Before you say anything,” El says, “I’m not your crystal ball. I’m not going to answer every question about your future.”

 

“Did you love him?” Flynn asks, and El’s eyes widen slightly in surprise. Flynn adds, to clarify, “Me, I mean. My future self.”

 

El looks at him softly, and Flynn can see that she is unsure of what to say to him. She thinks on it for a long moment, and he sees in her eyes the moment she makes her decision.

 

“I never said the words,” she starts, voice thick, “Not even once. I think it was because we always knew what was coming and there was no point in making it any harder than it had to be. For a while I thought that he believed I didn’t. Love him, that is. But I did.” El pauses and looks Flynn in the eyes and says, “I do.”

 

Flynn can tell that her careful composure is set to break. Lucy has always been strong, the strongest of all of them, truly, and this version of her has been through so much more hardship and heartbreak. She didn’t sob over Garcia’s body because the mission was more important to her than her grief, but now the room is empty except for them, and Flynn can’t resist stepping forward and extending his arms, offering her comfort.

 

El meets him halfway and allows him to wrap her up in his arms, her head resting over his heart. Flynn can’t help but be reminded of the last time he held her in his arms, crying, after Emma got away in Chinatown the first time.

 

He holds her to his chest for a long time, knowing she is thinking about a different version of himself. After another minute Flynn feels her start to pull away, and he releases her. El steps back and wipes her face, chuckling wetly. “Anything else you want to ask me about the future?” she asks.

 

Flynn chuckles, too, the sound barely making it out of his throat. “I don’t think so. Thank you, El,” he says.

 

He makes a move to turn away, allowing her to return to Logan, but she stops him. “Wait,” she says, and he turns to look at her expectantly, “Could you call me by my real name?”

 

Flynn swallows around the lump in his throat. “Thank you, Lucy,” he manages, and she nods and gives him a sad smile. She then turns and goes in the direction Logan went. Flynn watches her go, and despite the sorrow diffusing their interaction, he can’t help but feel real hope for the future for the first time in too many years.

 

-

 

Jiya and Rufus rush down the hall, managing to maintain some decorum as they go to Jiya’s room and shut the door tightly behind him.

 

“You know, I really wish we could lock these doors from the inside,” Rufus says, smiling at Jiya and placing his hands on her hips, pulling her to him.

 

Jiya smiles back and says, “Something tells me no one is going to come in here anytime soon.” She lifts herself up on her tip toes and kisses Rufus, feeling tears well up in her eyes again at the feeling of his lips against hers, something she never thought she would experience again.

 

He pulls back after a moment and says, “I love you.” All trace of joking is gone from his voice.

 

“I love you, too,” Jiya whispers.

 

They kiss again, and this time they don’t stop. Jiya backs up slowly, pulling Rufus with her until her back is against the door. Rufus presses against her like he is trying to memorize the feeling of her body against his. He reaches down and grabs her thigh, pulling up her leg to hook around his hips. They stay like that for a while, kissing passionately, until Jiya pushes against Rufus slightly. Rufus understands what she means to do immediately and backs up until the backs of his legs hit against Jiya’s bed.

 

He pulls back and turns them, gently pushing Jiya so she lays down on her bed. Rufus climbs on top of her and kisses her again. He pulls back after a moment, carding his hand through her hair and murmurs, “What do you want?”

 

She smiles up at him. “I just want you, Rufus,” she says, cupping his neck with her hand and trying to pull him back down into a kiss, but he turns his head away, smiling.

 

“The way I see it,” Rufus says, still teasing her, but his voice has grown softer and more serious, “I am going to see you again in a matter of hours, but you will have to wait much, much longer to see me again. Therefore, I will once again ask the question, what do you want?”

 

Jiya feels a simultaneous rush of love and sadness that threatens to overwhelm her. Once she regains the ability to speak, she says, “I already told you my answer. I love you, more than anything. All I want is you, in any and every way.”

 

Rufus leans down and kisses her, slowly and tenderly, slipping his hand underneath the hem of her shirt. He pulls back for a moment to pull the shirt over her head and then kisses her mouth once more before moving on to kiss her neck, and then lower and lower.

 

Each press of his lips on his skin feels like a whispered _I love you,_ and Jiya smiles, knowing that no matter how long she has to wait, that she will always love him, and that he will always, always be worth it.

 

-

 

Denise walks down the hallway after Wyatt, and for a moment she feels her resolve shaking and doesn’t know if she’ll be able to look him in the eyes and lie to him. She takes a deep breath and steels herself.

 

“Wyatt,” she calls out, and he turns around quickly, an expectant expression on his face.

 

“Yes, ma’am?” he says.

 

“I would like to brief you on what happened when Lucy, Jiya, and I went back in time after Emma and Jessica.” Denise turns to professionalism and official language, knowing that Wyatt, as a soldier, will respond best to this. For this, she knows it is better to just lay down the events in a detached and precise manner instead of offering him platitudes and euphemisms.

 

“Yes, of course,” Wyatt says, subconsciously standing almost at attention.

 

Denise explains to him that Jessica and Emma jumped to the attack on Pearl Harbor in order to retrieve a sleeper agent who had been positioned there to extracts U.S. military secrets and feed them to the Japanese. She tells him in her signature matter-of-fact way that she killed Emma and that Jiya eliminated the sleeper agent. When she reaches the point in her briefing where she has to tell him about Jessica she pauses slightly, and Wyatt picks up on it immediately.

 

“What about Jessica?” Wyatt asks, his face pale.

 

“We used Emma to track down the Mothership, and when we found it, it had been completely destroyed. A nearby bomb must have destabilized the nuclear core and caused an explosion. Emma refused to tell us where Jessica was, only that she had been in the command center before they split up to try and escape us. We couldn’t find her, and we were still dressed in modern clothing in one of the most prevalent disasters in American history, so it was not advisable for us to linger longer than we had to. I’m sorry, Wyatt, but we don’t know what happened to Jessica in the attack, only that she must still be in 1941.” Denise finishes and looks at Wyatt intently, trying to read his face.

 

He stares at her shoulder for a few seconds, his expression set an emotionless mask, before breathing in sharply through his nose and straightening up to look her in the eye. “Thank you for filling me in, ma’am. I’m sure you did all you could.”

 

Wyatt turns and walks away before she can say anything, going to his room and shutting the door tightly behind him. Denise follows behind and waits outside the door, listening. She hears a loud _thump_ followed immediately by a pained shout, which she believes to be Wyatt punching the metal wall as hard as he can. Denise wants to open the door and comfort him, pull him to her like she does with her own children and tell him it will all be okay, but she knows it is not her place.

 

Denise walks away from Wyatt’s bedroom, the weight of her lie settling deep in the pit of her stomach, but the knowledge that she is keeping the team together allowing her to continue to hold her head high.

 

-

 

Connor finds Lucy in one of their less-used rooms with an open laptop, furiously typing. She doesn’t notice him when he enters, so he clears his throat and she jumps slightly, looking up from her computer in alarm.

 

“Oh,” she says, trying to recover a normal expression, “Hi, Connor.”

 

He looks at her curiously and says, “Hello to you, too, Lucy. What’s got you so avidly researching? I should think we all deserve a bit of a break from work after all we’ve been through in the last couple days.”

 

Lucy runs her fingers through her hair, an unconscious movement she does when she’s stressed. “I’m just looking to see if anything changed in history because of the sleeper agent at Pearl Harbor. However, nothing about World War II seems to have changed. VE and VJ day are still the same. The atomic bombs were still dropped. Japanese-Americans were still put into internment camps,” she says, sounding uncharacteristically bitter about the past remaining the way it is supposed to be.

 

Connor clears his throat again. “Are you… quite alright?” he asks hesitantly, not usually the one to make sure the inhabitants of the bunker are all in the proper mental health space.

 

She is silent for a few long moments, and Connor is prepared to apologize and back out of the door. He isn’t the one that anyone opens up to, except for Jiya, lately, and he knows that he doesn’t have the closest relationship with most of the team.

 

“I’m just tired of it all, you know?” Lucy says. “I know we’re all sick of living our lives underground, constantly putting ourselves in life-threatening situations, but sometimes it just gets to be too much,” she pauses and looks up at him with a slight smile. Connor smiles back at her and thinks about how fond of her he is, despite their not talking one-on-one like this very much. Lucy continues, “I wouldn’t give up anyone in this bunker for the world. You have all been my family as I’ve discovered the truth about my biological one. Sometimes I just wish I could still have you all in my life, but have it be a normal life where I can be a professor again and I can date and sign up for yoga class that I’m never going to go to and live in a normal home.”

 

She cuts herself off and lets out a deep breath, sounding completely exhausted. Connor regards her for a moment while he searches for the right words.

 

“I used to have everything I could have ever asked for. Money, fame, adoration. I sold my soul to Rittenhouse to keep that when I screwed it all away because I was so terrified of losing the life I had grown accustomed to,” Connor says.

 

Lucy watches him levelly, paying close attention as he paces about the room.

 

He continues, “The thing that changed my mind, in the end, and led me to turn against Rittenhouse and come to live in this godforsaken bunker was Rufus. I had come to love Rufus like a son, and I couldn’t let him get hurt, because he is my family. We all know that this situation is far from ideal, but there are far worse places to be than living surrounded by people who love you.”

 

Connor looks at the floor awkwardly, not used to sharing his deepest feelings on a regular basis. “Thank you, Connor,” Lucy says, and when he looks up to meet her eyes he sees that she is smiling at him, and this time it reaches her eyes.

 

“Yes, well… you’re welcome,” he manages. “I’ll just leave you to your research.” He nods at Lucy and then turns and leaves the room, shutting the door behind him and letting out a relieved breath.

 

-

 

El and Logan wait for the hour to be up, sitting on the floor of their Lifeboat, El’s leg in between Logan’s, her foot resting gently against the inside of his thigh. They sit in companionable silence, not quite ready to get into hashing through all they’ve been through in the last few days until they make it home.

 

They watch as the team gathers, Connor first, waving his hand at them absentmindedly before sitting down and picking up a few papers from the coffee table, examining them closely. Agent Christopher comes next, and she goes to lean against the kitchen counter, her expression one of emotionless determination. She doesn’t give them any sort of greeting.

 

Lucy comes next and sits next to Connor quietly, followed by Flynn who seems unable to meet anyone’s eyes. Rufus and Jiya come striding into the room, giggling softly to each other and holding on to each other’s hands tightly. Wyatt slips in last, quietly, his right hand covered in a bandage and his face void of any readable expression.

 

El kicks her foot gently against Logan’s leg and stands up, going to the control of the Lifeboat to get it started up. Logan stands, too, and steps out of the Lifeboat. “It’s time,” he says. Rufus looks up at him and nods.

 

Each person gives him a long hug in turn, and Connor sniffs slightly as he lets go, trying to cover up the sound as a cough. Rufus skips over the hug for Flynn, but he shakes his hand firmly and looks him in the eye. He returns to Jiya last, and they kiss sweetly, less a goodbye and more of a goodbye for now, a promise for more to come.

 

“Well,” Rufus says, walking over to the Lifeboat and turning around to look at his team, smiling sadly, “I’ll be seeing you all.”

 

They all offer him whatever tight-lipped smiles or nods they can, and he turns and enters the Lifeboat. Logan goes in after him but stops at the doorway, and El sticks her head out, too. “Goodbye,” Logan says simply.

 

“And thank you,” El adds. They stand for a moment in the opening of the Lifeboat, a mirror image of their original arrival in the bunker. Then, they go to find their seats and the door hisses shut behind them. The rings begin to spin soon after and then the second Lifeboat is gone, leaving only the absent space it had been in, and the absence of Rufus among them, to show that it was even here at all.

 

-

 

In the days following El, Logan, and Rufus’ departure, the bunker is much quieter than usual. No one really watches the TV or cooks up dinner for everyone or really speaks much at all. Lucy spends most of her time writing in the journal, trying to remember even the smallest details from their first trips. She feels so far removed from the Hindenburg and Lincoln’s assassination that sometimes she finds it hard to believe she was even there.

 

Flynn and Wyatt both seem to be avoiding her as much as possible, and Connor and Jiya both don’t seem to be in the mood for chatting. Due to their lack of immediately urgent missions, Agent Christopher has spent most of her time at home with her wife and children, leaving them to their own devices.

 

On the fourth day after the second Lifeboat departed, Lucy goes into the room she shares with Jiya to find her sitting on her bed next to an empty duffel bag.

 

“Packing?” Lucy asks gently. Jiya looks up at her like she’s surprised that Lucy is there.

 

“Uh... yeah,” Jiya says after a beat. Lucy gets the feeling that Jiya has been sitting next to the bag for a while, definitively not packing it.

 

Lucy sits on her own cot across from Jiya, their knees only a couple feet away in their small room. “Do you want some help?” Lucy asks.

 

“That would be great, actually,” Jiya replies, giving her a small smile.

 

“What should I do?”

 

Jiya glances around the room. Neither of them has many things anymore, so there’s really not too much to pack. “I guess I’ll grab the clothes I have,” Jiya says, “and if you don’t mind, I would appreciate if you could grab the stuff I have under my bed.”

 

Lucy nods in agreement and Jiya stands up and goes over to the military-style trunk she has been using as a dresser. For a couple minutes they work in silence, Lucy pulling loose odds and ends out from under the cot and Jiya folding up her clothes tightly and packing them into the duffel bag.

 

“Can I ask where you’re going to go?” Lucy says. Jiya pauses her work and looks over at Lucy.

 

“Of course, you can ask, Lucy. You’re still my best friend, even though we won’t be roommates anymore.” Jiya sounds almost back to her old, joking self as she says this, and Lucy chuckles.

 

“It’s been fun, staying with you in this room that looks even more like a prison cell than my freshman year dorm. And that room was made completely of concrete.”

 

Now it’s Jiya turn to let out a small laugh, and Lucy feels a bit warmer having made Jiya smile for a least a little while. “I still think it’s ridiculous that Agent Christopher made me and you and Wyatt and Rufus bunk together like we are in college,” Jiya says.

 

“Hey,” Lucy shoots back, “Mom couldn’t have her kids getting up to anything.”

 

They only refer to Agent Christopher as ‘Mom’ rarely and when there is absolutely no possibility of her hearing, and Jiya lets out a real laugh at this comment. “It’s not like I was going to get pregnant or anything. Rufus and I aren’t stupid. In fact, one might even say we’re pretty damn smart.”

 

The two of them giggle again. “Really, though, I was glad to be your roommate, Jiya. And your teammate,” Lucy says, more seriously.

 

“I may be leaving, but you can always call or text me. I’m not cutting off all ties with the team. I just need some time for myself after all this.” Jiya returns to the folding and packing of her clothes.

 

Lucy reaches under the bed and pulls out what seems to be part of a deconstructed circuit board. “You still didn’t answer my question,” she says.

 

“Oh,” Jiya says, “you’re right.” She thinks for a minute and then glances over at Lucy. “I haven’t decided for sure yet, because honestly I haven’t put much thought into this beyond putting one foot in front of the other, but I think I’ll go to the east coast. Maybe New York or Boston. I think a new city would be good for me.”

 

“Well make sure to tell me where you end up and I’ll see if there’s anyone I know who can help you start your life there,” Lucy says.

 

“Thank you, Lucy,” Jiya says, her voice much softer than it was before.

 

They are both quiet for a while, lost in their own thoughts. Lucy finishes cleaning out under the bed just before Jiya transfers her last article of clothing from the trunk to the bag. Jiya sifts through the items Lucy has grabbed and Lucy returns to sit on her own bed.

 

“Do you have everything you need?” Lucy asks.

 

Jiya throws a few of the odds and ends from under the bed into her duffel bag and puts the rest in the trunk. “Yeah, I think so,” she says, “I just need my backpack with my laptop and a few other things.” Lucy nods and stands as Jiya zips her bag shut and goes to walk out the door, throwing their little room one last look. “I give you permission to push our two beds together if you would like and also to get up to whatever you want to in here now that you have your own room,” Jiya says, smiling.

 

Lucy coughs a bit and says, “I don’t really plan on ‘getting up to’ anything.”

 

“I wouldn’t be so sure,” Jiya says teasingly and starts to leave the room.

 

“Wait,” Lucy says, and Jiya turns to look at her expectantly, “I just have one thing to ask of you.”

 

Jiya nods, catching on to the seriousness in Lucy’s tone.

 

“I want you to find Jessica in the past. I’m sure she changed her name, and we have no idea what the sex of her baby is so that won’t help us particularly, but if anyone can do some digging and find her, it’s you. I think it’s important that we know what happened to her, after,” Lucy says all in a rush.

 

“I can do that, Lucy,” Jiya says, and Lucy nods at her in thanks and the two of them walk down the hall together.

 

Connor, Denise, Wyatt, and Flynn are all gathered in the common room when they arrive. Lucy assumes that Jiya tipped Denise off that she was leaving so that she could wrangle everyone together. She is pretty sure it is the first time they have all been gathered in one room since Rufus left.

 

“We’ll miss you, Jiya,” Denise says warmly, and gives Jiya a tight hug. Wyatt hugs her next, and she smiles at him after he lets her go.

 

To everyone’s surprise, and Flynn’s most of all, Jiya walks right over to him and throws her hands around his neck, going up on her tip toes to reach. Flynn is so stunned that he remains completely still for a moment, but then he unfreezes his limbs and hugs her back. “Thank you,” Jiya says.

 

“For what?” Flynn asks, his face a mask of confusion.

 

“For going back to save Rufus. You helped bring him home, and that’s something I’ll never forget.”

 

Flynn looks about as shaken as Lucy has ever seen him, and Jiya gives him a smile as he manages to say, “You’re welcome.”

 

She turns and Lucy steps forward to meet her. They hold each other tightly for nearly a minute, and Lucy keeps her eyes squeezed shut until she feels Jiya gently start to pull away. “Love you,” Lucy says.

 

“You, too,” Jiya replies automatically.

 

Connor clear his throat and says, his voice a bit rougher than usual, “Alright, then. We better get going or you’re going to miss your flight.”

 

Denise had managed to obtain all-new documentation for Jiya so that she could safely travel and start her new life without any risk of Rittenhouse coming after her. After a lengthy debate she had also agreed to allow Connor to take Jiya to the airport.

 

Jiya gives them all one last look, and then her and Connor walk down the hall towards the exit, Connor putting his arm around her after a moment and Jiya putting hers around his waist, leaning her head against his shoulder.

 

Lucy, Denise, Wyatt, and Flynn all watch them go, and once they turn the corner and look back at each other the atmosphere is immediately more tense and awkward.

 

Denise looks at each of them in turn before speaking. “I know things around here are obviously different,” she starts, “However, I see no reason why we cannot continue with our mission. Rittenhouse almost definitely still had sleepers embedded in the past, and we know their presence has not been completely eradicated in the present, either. Lucy and Flynn, I want both of you doing research to try and find figures in history who we believe may be Rittenhouse sleeper agents. Once Connor has trained Lucy in how to pilot the Lifeboat I want all three of you going after them.”

 

Lucy looks at Wyatt and Flynn, and she sees immediately that having a concrete mission has focused them both.

 

“I also want both of you to start training Lucy in self-defense and firearms,” Denise adds.

 

“Yes, ma’am,” Wyatt says, meeting Lucy’s eyes for the first time in days. Flynn nods in agreement.

 

“I trust you can all work through the logistics on your own. I’ll be checking in regularly and as always you can contact me if there is an emergency. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a dance recital to get to.”

 

Lucy smiles as Denise nods at the three of them and then goes down the hall towards the exit.

 

When she turns around she sees that both Wyatt and Flynn look like they are about to turn and flee from the room as both of them have been doing for the last four days.

 

“Stop,” she says, exasperated and exhausted, and the two men both pause and give her their attention. “We still have Christopher and Connor, but the three of us are now the core of this team, and we are going to have to figure out how to work together or all of this will fall apart. I am willing to work through this, for Rufus, and I need both of you to agree to do the same.”

 

They look at her and then at each other in a strange sort of stand-off. Lucy looks on curiously as they lock eyes and seem to have some sort of silent argument.

 

Wyatt is the first to break the silence. “Before this last trip, I wouldn’t trust you any further than I could throw you. I know I haven’t been your biggest fan in the past, but I think…” Wyatt pauses, and it looks like it almost pains him to say his next words, “I think we can make a good team.”

 

Flynn regards him coldly for a few moments, and then extends his hand. “A team,” he agrees, nodding. Wyatt steps forward and shakes his hand firmly.

 

“We can start with training and research tomorrow,” Lucy says, and both men nod their agreement.

 

Wyatt glances at the two of them one last time before turning and heading towards his room without any sort of goodbye. Lucy watches him go, and she knows that they have some work to do in order to get back to being the team they had been, but the sense of unease she has felt the last few days is gone. She finally feels confident that they will be alright.

 

She turns and sees Flynn look at her, and she can tell by his expression that he wants to say something, but after a moment his expression changes and he turns to go.

 

“Hey,” Lucy says, “If there’s something you want to tell me, I’d be happy to hear it. As a team, we shouldn’t keep anything back from each other.”

 

Flynn stops and slowly turns back to face her. They are standing nearly ten feet apart, and Lucy takes a few steps forward to close the distance, looking at him expectantly. After a moment of indecision, he speaks.

 

“Maybe you should sit down for this.”

 

Lucy looks at him curiously, but does as he says, going to sit down at their kitchen table. Flynn sits in the seat to her left. “What is it?” she asks.

 

Flynn sighs and runs a hand over his face. “There’s something that happened in Chinatown that you should know before you agree to spending the next five years as a team.”

 

“I can’t think of anything that would happen that could stop me from trying to save Rufus,” Lucy says, cocking her head to the side at Flynn’s cryptic words.

 

“We managed to stop Rufus from being shot by Emma, but it’s not because we changed where they exited, or someone stopped Emma from shooting,” he says. Lucy nods, not knowing what he is getting at. “I’m sure you noticed that my future self did not arrive with us.”

 

“Yes, I assumed he was still in 1888 because you could only jump with five passengers here. El and Logan must have gone back again to retrieve him,” Lucy says.

 

“No,” Flynn says, shaking his head, “They aren’t going back for him.”

 

It only takes a couple of seconds for Lucy to understand what he means, and then she inhales sharply. Flynn looks down at the table. “He died?” she asks softly.

 

Flynn nods.

 

“Did he die saving Rufus?”

 

Flynn nods again.

 

“Look at me, Flynn.”

 

Lucy gazes at him as he finally looks at her, and she sees roiling emotion behind his eyes. He doesn’t say anything, but he doesn’t look away, either.

 

“So, what you’re telling me,” Lucy says, “is that in five years you are going to sacrifice your life so that Rufus can live.”

 

“That does seem to be the case, yes,” Flynn says shortly.

 

“Why?” Lucy says, her voice almost a whisper.

 

Flynn looks at her, and he doesn’t say a single word, but she sees it all painted on his face. He stares deeply into her eyes, and his expression is filled with so much intensity and emotion that she almost has to look away.

 

“I want to hear you say it.”

 

He opens his mouth slightly, but for a moment Lucy thinks that he is just going to shut it and leave, his expression torn. Finally, he speaks.

 

“For you, Lucy. I am here for you, I have fought for you, and I would give up my life for you.”

 

His words hang in the air between them for a few long moments, and then she stands and takes a step towards him so that she is looking down into his eyes, their legs almost touching. Flynn looks up at her, completely breathless and completely still. He doesn’t move a muscle as Lucy reaches out a hand to cup the side of his face. His breath catches in his throat.

 

“So, that’s the answer to my question,” she says, equally breathless.

 

Flynn nods, “It’s you, Lucy, I am here because of you.” He hesitantly reaches out a hand to touch the side of her thigh, and his touch runs through her like electricity. Lucy throws her leg over his lap and sits down, straddling him, their faces only centimeters apart.

 

Lucy doesn’t know who leans forward first, but they are kissing, and Flynn has one hand on her hip and the other around her back, holding her tightly to him. She threads her fingers into his hair as he deepens the kiss, running his tongue across her bottom lip.

 

After what could have been seconds or hours, Flynn pulls back slightly and looks Lucy dead in the eye. He is breathing hard and still holding her tightly to him.

 

“What?” she breathes.

 

He pauses for a moment, as if he knows what he wants to say but is terrified to say it. When he speaks, his voice is low and quiet so that Lucy can barely hear him. “Could you call me by my name?”

 

Lucy smiles at him and kisses him once, softly. “Garcia,” she says, and he lets out a breath that it seems he has been holding for years. She leans forward, and they are kissing again, and she murmurs his name against his lips again and again, “Garcia, Garcia, Garcia.”

 

Flynn bites down on her bottom lip and Lucy moans softly. This time, Lucy pulls away and says, “Do you want to come to my room?”

 

He looks back at her, pupils blown in arousal, and nods silently. Lucy makes a move to stand up off his lap, but Flynn hooks a hand under her thigh, wrapping the other arm around her waist as he stands up seemingly effortlessly. Lucy wraps her legs around his waist and smiles against his mouth as he kisses her again, knowing he is just trying to impress her. He carries her down the hall to her room, which is thankfully closest to the common area, narrowly missing hitting the kitchen counter and the wall because he gets distracted kissing her.

 

Flynn releases the hand from under her thigh in order to open the door, stepping through and kicking it shut behind him. He turns and presses her back against the metal, his hips pressing against hers. Lucy lets her head fall back against the door as Flynn moves his mouth to her neck. She moans as he grinds against her, and she grips his hair to direct his mouth back to hers so they can kiss messily.

 

“Bed, now,” she says, breaking apart, and Flynn wastes no time in carrying her over to her cot and setting her down on it gently. She watches unabashedly as he takes off his shirt and pants, and he stands next to the cot, looking down at her expectantly until she removes her clothes as well. He kneels down on the bed and leans down, bracketing his forearms around her head so he can hover above her and kisses her with a slow, burning intensity.

 

Lucy arches up into him and pull him toward her, and Flynn lowers his hips onto hers. He moves his hand from her waist to her breast, slowly circling his thumb around her nipple. She can feel him, hard, against her as he slowly moves his hand down her body and between her legs. Lucy reaches down her hand and guides him, showing him how she likes to be touched and making appreciative sounds when he hits the right spot. He dips a finger inside of her and Lucy pushes her hips up to meet him. She grabs his neck and drags his mouth to hers, humming against his lips when he rubs teasing circles around her clit. Lucy moves to mouth along his neck and Flynn whispers in her ear, “Do you have protection?”

 

Lucy makes an affirmative sound and pushes him back gently so he knows to roll over and let her out. The metal floor is cold against her bare feet, and she feels Flynn’s eyes on her naked body as she goes over to Jiya’s trunk and opens it, quickly finding the condoms Jiya left behind. She turns and meets Flynn’s eyes.

 

He is sitting up on the bed, staring at her, and though the air between them is still heavy, she can see hesitation in his expression. It doesn’t take a genius to guess what he’s worried about.

 

“I want you, Garcia,” Lucy says, “I want you like this.” Flynn’s face immediately melts into a much more contented expression and he holds out his hand to her. She goes over and takes it and then straddles him, nothing between them. He takes the condom from her hand and rips open the package before sliding it on.

 

Lucy looks him in the eyes as she slides down onto him, his mouth falling open involuntarily at the sight and feeling of her. “For the record,” he says, as Lucy takes a moment to adjust to the feeling of him inside of her, “I want you, too.”

 

Lucy laughs breathlessly and starts to move, riding him slowly. Flynn kisses her neck, moving slightly lower to suck a mark in the center of her chest. After a while Flynn turns his hips and Lucy gasps at the change in angle, and then she lays down on her back so that he can move on top of her. He thrusts into her, and Lucy moans softly, threading her fingers in his hair and digging her nails into his back to urge him on.

 

As they move together she says his name, over and over again like a mantra or a prayer, “Garcia, Garcia, Garcia.”

 

Flynn remains mostly silent until the moment he comes, whispering Lucy’s name so quietly she can barely hear it. Lucy is so close, and before she can say anything to Flynn he slides down her body and puts his mouth between her legs. It only takes a few moments with his clever tongue until she is shuddering and shaking apart beneath him.

 

He sits back and wipes his mouth, licking his lips, and Lucy feels nearly ready for round two just with the sight of him. They look at each other for a few moments, and Lucy sees that same uncertainty in his eyes.

 

“Come here,” she says, opening her arms and moving over slightly. Flynn hesitates for another minute, but he relents, laying his head down on her shoulder and curling his arm around her waist. Their legs tangle together, and Lucy wraps her arms around him, occasionally carding her fingers through his hair.

 

Silence falls between them for a while as they hold each other, and Lucy looks at the top of Flynn’s head and wonders at how it all turned out this way. It’s definitely not the way she thought, but feeling his fingers draw little circles on her hip, she thinks that she is glad it did.

 

“I’m happy you’re here,” Lucy says, and Flynn lifts himself up to look at her. She can tell from the look in his eyes that he knows she means it in the all-encompassing way.

 

He leans forward and presses a gentle kiss to her lips.

 

-

 

Wyatt figures out what’s going on pretty quickly. It only takes him a matter of days to start seeing it, and a matter of weeks to know for sure. They probably think they are being discreet, but Wyatt was in the damn Delta Force, for god’s sake, and he can tell when two people are obviously banging.

 

The three of them begin training, and they work out a daily schedule that works for all of them. Lucy and Connor work on piloting in the morning, occasionally joined by Wyatt or Flynn when they have the morning free to pick up a few things.

 

The afternoons are slated for self-defense and firearms training for Lucy and sparring for Wyatt and Flynn. Lucy is a quick learner with a gun and a slightly less quick learner with the ju-jitsu, but after a month or so she begins to be able to put Wyatt on his back every once in a while. Wyatt finds sparring with Flynn to be a simultaneously useful and extremely strange pastime because they fought so many times as real enemies. Something about the physicality of it makes it easier and easier to be around Flynn without feeling unsettled, and the three of them begin to shape up into an actual team.

 

At night, Lucy and Flynn do research, hunched over books and papers and laptops. Sometimes Wyatt helps out with researching military history, trying to pick out any discrepancies, and other nights he leaves Lucy and Flynn to it and sits with Connor as he tinkers with the Lifeboat.

 

Some days Connor spends hours with Jiya on the phone, talking so quickly about quantum physics that the two of them could be speaking another language for all Wyatt can understand. Connor works on the Lifeboat every evening, trying to increase its carrying capacity and its ability to regulate a paradox, constantly grumbling good-naturedly about how much easier it would be if Rufus were there. Wyatt looks on at the internal machinery of the Lifeboat and hands Connor tools when he asks for them, and as the weeks and months start to pass he begins to pick up the correct tool before Connor says anything.

 

Agent Christopher comes to check on them with some frequency, and she is pleased with their training progress, though all of them seem to be a bit stir crazy with the lack of missions. She grants them limited privileges to leave the bunker, and Wyatt jumps on the opportunity immediately, grateful to be able to just go out into the real world and have a drink at a bar. Sometimes Denise has him over for dinner.

 

He is happy to get away from the bunker for any reason, and he thinks it’s probably for the best that he doesn’t spend all his time with Lucy and Flynn.

 

The first indicator is just a few lingering looks, brushing past each other when there was plenty of room to walk around, Flynn looking much less generally bitter and brooding all the time. Wyatt doesn’t know for sure until he hears Lucy, while the two of them were doing research, quietly call him by his first name to get his attention. It isn’t too difficult to figure out what could have changed between them for Flynn to allow that sort of intimacy.

 

At first, it feels like he’s constantly just had the wind knocked out of him, and every time Wyatt sees Lucy smile at Flynn sweetly or Flynn rest his hand on her thigh when they’re sitting together his old telltale jealousy rears its ugly head. It feels like a fist clenched tight around his heart, but he focuses on training and research and helping Connor and step by step he starts to feel like he can breathe again. Wyatt has never been able to let things go, before, but then his wife died, and he started working with the team and then his wife came back to life and then got lost in history and he realized that anger and jealousy were never going to help him move forward.

 

Wyatt continues working, continues following his orders, and he comes to realize, rather reluctantly, that things are much easier than they had been in a long time. Without all the pent up sexual tension in the bunker threatening to drive everyone insane, it is as if they have all finally been able to draw breath and be comfortable around each other again.

 

Lucy is easy to talk to again, and sometimes she comes out with him when he leaves the bunker, to get some fast food or just to walk around outside, all the complications between them so much less important now.

 

Wyatt even finds himself able to talk to Flynn, albeit with both of them constantly throwing sarcastic comments at the other, but they have lost their bite.

 

As the months pass, the three of them, four if you count Connor, but he is so wrapped up in his work that he often can’t be shaken from it, fall into a domestic routine. Wyatt discovers that Lucy is an absolutely terrible cook, a fact which he and Flynn see fit to constantly remind her about, much to her chagrin.

 

Wyatt had learned basic cooking skills in the army, and when he was home from missions he would always make dinner for Jessica, making up for all the nights she had to spend without him. He started to cook a few nights a week, making enough food for the four of them in the bunker and some extra for leftovers. Wyatt isn’t surprised when Flynn starts to take over a few meals a week, cooking them various Eastern European dishes he somehow manages to whip up with the food Denise has dropped off every week.

 

The three of them begin to gather each night after training and before research to eat together. Wyatt finds it strange, at first, if only because it feels so natural. They sit at their rickety fold-out table and eat and talk, sometimes about missions and history and Rittenhouse, but more often than not about their own lives and interests, or their favorite classic movies or TV shows. Wyatt thinks that this is what it would have felt like if he had a normal childhood with a normal, loving family.

 

It takes just over a year for Lucy to be able to pilot them to the past to stop the rest of the sleepers. On their missions each of them almost dies more than once, but they pull through and carry on, all of them simultaneously hoping for and dreading the moment they knew was soon to come.

 

Wyatt grows out his beard, suffering through constant teasing from Lucy and Flynn, and each time he looks in the mirror he sees he is becoming more and more like the man he met years before.

 

And then, in the middle of the night, Wyatt wakes up to the sound of Connor yelling in the hall. He gets up from his bed and puts on some pants, rubbing his eyes and groaning. When he opens his bedroom door he finds himself face to face with Connor who is smiling widely with just a touch of sleep deprived mania.

 

“I did it,” he says, and Wyatt knows what he means in an instant.

 

Lucy and Flynn come down the hall, both in various states of undress, squinting at Connor. “I did it,” he says again, and Wyatt expects to see emotion on Flynn and Lucy’s faces, excitement or sorrow or anger, but all he sees is a steely determination that matches his.

 

“It’s time,” Lucy says.

 

Flynn and Wyatt nod in agreement.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you enjoy, please consider reblogging on tumblr! <3
> 
> http://thislesbianlovesbuckybarnes.tumblr.com/post/177307771212/show-chapter-archive


	6. Part Six: The Return (3)

As soon as Lucy lands the Lifeboat and shuts it down Rufus is out the door, and he comes immediately face to face with Connor and Agent Christopher. They both have a couple more wrinkles and Christopher has a few more gray hairs, but the years fade away as their faces break into smiles when they catch sight of him.

 

Connor rushes forward and hugs Rufus so tightly that for a second Rufus can’t even draw breath.

 

“Oh, Rufus, it’s so good to see you,” he says, still holding on.

 

“I can tell,” Rufus says, chuckling and hugging Connor back before gently extricating himself. Christopher comes forward next to hugs him, less aggressively than Connor but no less warmly.

 

“We missed you,” she says as she pulls back with a smile.

 

Rufus smiles back. “I wish I could say the same,” he says, “but I just saw you, like ten minutes ago so…”

 

Both Connor and Christopher chuckle at this, if a bit forced, and Lucy and Wyatt exit out of the Lifeboat behind Rufus. Connor’s face falls as Lucy comes forward and gives him a quick hug.

 

“Did everything go… according to plan?” Christopher says. Wyatt looks over at Lucy for a moment, and Rufus can see her pain mirrored in his eyes.

 

“Yeah,” Wyatt says, clearing his throat, “He’s gone.”

 

“Everything went exactly like it did the first time,” Lucy manages, her voice thick with emotion. She turns to Connor. “You were right about the time loop.”

 

To Rufus’ surprise, Christopher goes over to Wyatt first and places a hand on his shoulder. “I’m so sorry,” she says to him before going over to hug Lucy.

 

Lucy takes a deep breath and wipes at her eyes as she pulls away from Christopher. “I think I had convinced myself that knowing beforehand would make it easier,” she says wetly.

 

Wyatt goes over to her and takes her hand. “But it doesn’t,” he finishes for her, and Rufus thinks, despite not truly understanding the relationship they had with Flynn, that they both lost someone they love today.

 

The four of them share a silent moment together, and Rufus looks on, feeling all at once the five years he has missed. He knows they still love him and consider him a part of the team, but so much can change in that amount of time, people change in that amount of time, and he’s not quite sure where he fits with them anymore. Rufus lets them have their moment before asking the question that has been on the tip of his tongue since they landed, “Where’s Jiya?”

 

“Ah, yes, of course,” Connor says, turning his attention back to Rufus, “She couldn’t make it here to greet you because it would be a long way to go and her job couldn’t spare her, so you will have to go to her.”

 

Rufus squints at him, “Her job?”

 

Christopher and Connor look over at Lucy and Wyatt. “We forgot to mention it,” Wyatt says, shrugging.

 

Christopher sighs. “Jiya left the bunker five years ago, Rufus. She moved away to have a normal life, away from time travel and state secrets. She lives in Philadelphia now.”

 

Rufus’ jaw drops, and he is speechless for a few moments. After a pause, he says, “So if she moved away from the team and started a new life does that mean she… moved on?”

 

They all catch onto his meaning and Connor smiles at him. “Rufus, don’t be an idiot,” he says. Rufus makes an offended sound and Connor chuckles. “Jiya loves you and she always will. She has been waiting for you these last five years, just like the rest of us. I already booked our flight to Philadelphia.”

 

“Oh,” Rufus says, looking around at all of them. Christopher smiles back widely, and Wyatt and Lucy both look at him fondly.

 

“Come on,” Connor say as he throws his arm around Rufus’ shoulders and leads him toward the bunker exit.

 

Rufus calls over his should, “I’ll see you all soon!”

 

Connor catches Rufus up on the last five years during their ride to the airport. He fills him in on the big movies that came out, the presidential election, which tech companies came out with new products and which folded, and any other random news story he can think of. Rufus listens to it all, occasionally making comments which make Connor chuckle or sigh long-sufferingly.

 

“So, what happened with all of you while I was gone?” Rufus asks a bit hesitantly.

 

Connor sighs, and Rufus looks over at him to see that his expression has become pensive. Rufus understands that five years really have passed for all of them, but it’s hard to wrap his head around since he saw them all just hours before. Connor looks older, and Rufus sees the toll that five years in the bunker without he and Jiya had taken on him.

 

“Connor?” Rufus asks after he still doesn’t reply, “Are you alright?”

 

Connor sniffs a couple of times and looks resolutely ahead of himself on the road. Rufus knows he isn’t the best at talking about his feelings, so he is prepared to take Connor’s silence as an answer, but eventually Connor opens his mouth and says, simply, “I missed you, more than anything. I never want to lose you again.”

 

“You won’t,” Rufus replies immediately, and Connor looks over at him, his face breaking into a smile. Rufus reaches over and puts his hand on his shoulder, squeezing once before letting go. “So, what’s up with the whole Flynn-Lucy-Wyatt situation?” Connor’s face falls slightly again. “Sorry about Flynn,” Rufus adds.

 

“It’s alright,” Connor says, “At first it was all rather awkward, with Wyatt moping around about Jessica and Lucy and Lucy and Flynn obviously sleeping together but trying to hide it from everyone.”

 

If Rufus had been drinking water, he would have done a spit take. After a bit of spluttering he manages, “They what? I could tell in Chinatown that they had all become much closer, but you’re telling me Lucy and Flynn were a couple for five years?”

 

Connor nods, chuckling a bit at Rufus’ antics. “Yes, they became quite domestic after the first year or so.”

 

“What about Wyatt?”

 

“He and I never talked about it directly, but he spent a lot of long nights sitting with me and helping me with the Lifeboat upgrades, and although he would still fall into brooding spells every once in a while, he wasn’t constantly pining.”

 

Rufus looks at Connor in disbelief. “Let me get this straight. Wyatt, mister macho man, who is quite possibly the most jealous man on earth, lived with the woman he loves and her new boyfriend who he hates with a burning passion for five years and he was just… okay with it?”

 

They stop at a red light and Connor gives Rufus a look. “Meeting our future selves, losing you, realizing we could stop Rittenhouse for good. All these things put the rest of our lives in perspective. The three of them became quite close, actually. I wouldn’t be surprised if Flynn’s death is hitting Wyatt nearly as hard as Lucy, loath as he would be to admit it.”

 

“Are you _sure_ Jiya doesn’t have a new boyfriend? I guess the world has turned upside down in the time I’ve been gone, and you know I wouldn’t blame her for moving on,” Rufus says.

 

Connor scoffs. “Rufus, I don’t think Jiya could ever truly ‘move on’ from you.”

 

Rufus smiles softly at this, relieved, and the two of them drive in comfortable silence until they reach the airport. Getting through security and on the plane is a surprisingly uneventful process with the papers Agent Christopher secured for them. Rufus tries to keep himself occupied on the flight, reading SkyMall and working out fourth derivatives in his head, but nothing can truly take his mind off of seeing Jiya again. He bounces his leg up and down, annoying Connor to no end.

 

Finally, they land, and there is a car waiting for them at the airport to take them to Jiya’s place. Rufus only grows more and more nervous the closer they get, and Connor eventually gives up on calming him down and just tries to ignore his panicked fidgeting instead.

 

They pull up in front of a nice apartment building and Connor follows a few steps behind as Rufus climbs the stairs and walks down the hall to stand in front of the bright blue door with the number Connor told him on it. He stands there staring at it, unable to bring himself to knock. Connor lets out an exasperated breath and says something that sounds like “kids” under his breath as he reaches out and knocks on the door for him. Rufus is practically jumping up and down with nerves as he waits.

 

The door opens.

 

It only takes a second for Jiya’s expression to change from casual politeness to shock to overwhelming joy. She throws her arms around Rufus’ neck and squeezes the life out of him, whispering his name over and over again.

 

“Jiya,” he says, holding her just as tightly.

 

They stay like that for a long time, assuring each other that they will never have to be apart like that ever again. Connor looks at them, his eyes a bit watery, completely overjoyed at seeing the both of them together again. Jiya breaks away from Rufus for a moment to extend an arm to Connor. He comes forward and hugs her tightly.

 

“Thank you for bringing him home,” she murmurs near his ear, “I knew you could.”

 

“I knew _we_ could. Never could have done it without your help,” Connor replies softly. They pull apart and Jiya opens her arm so Rufus can join their hug, and the three of them hold each other in the hallway, none of them quite willing to be the first to let go.

 

Jiya pulls back and smiles at Rufus as if she can’t believe her eyes. “It’s so good to see you, Rufus,” she says, “and you haven’t aged a day. I guess is must be weird for you, coming back and missing out on the last five years. Oh! There’s so many movies and TV shows we have to catch up on together. There’s this on-”

 

Rufus rushes forward and kisses her squarely on the mouth, cutting off her rambling train of thought. He pulls back and brushes a lock of hair out of her face. “I love you so much.”

 

“I love you, too,” Jiya whispers back, and they are kissing again.

 

Connor gives them about ten seconds before he pointedly clears his throat. They pull apart and look at him, both with dazed smiles on their faces. Connor can’t help but smile back at them.

 

“Can I see your place?” Rufus asks, and Jiya nods her head and leads the two of them into the apartment.

 

Jiya smiles at him and says, almost shyly, “It can be our place, if you want.”

 

“Do you mean Connor, too, because don’t get me wrong, I love you, man, but I’m not sure there’s much room for the three of us,” Rufus says, smiling, and Connor and Jiya laugh.

 

“I can stay in a hotel when I visit you two, thanks very much,” Connor says.

 

Rufus looks at the two of them, his family, and he sees the years reflected in their eyes. Jiya doesn’t look like she has aged much, but she does look older. Despite all the time, though, she still looks at him the same way. He pulls the two of them into another hug and they both chuckle at him but hold on just as tightly.

 

He plans on never letting them go.

 

-

 

Lucy and Wyatt debrief Agent Christopher on exactly what happened during their mission, explaining the trips in turns, filling in where one of them wasn’t present or forgot something. They tell her about Garcia’s death and she lets out a breath, looking down at the floor. “He died a hero,” she says.

 

Lucy nods once, her lips pressed in a thin line.

 

“After we deliver the journal, I am going to affix explosives to the Lifeboat and destroy it as planned,” Wyatt says, “This will all finally be over.”

 

Christopher nods. “I couldn’t have asked for a better team. Thank you both.” She stands and shakes Wyatt’s hand and gives Lucy a hug before leaving them alone in the bunker.

 

With just the two of them there it feels eerily quiet and empty, and they sit together in the common area, neither wanting to leave the other’s company or venture further into the bunker while they wait for the Lifeboat to charge.

 

“How are you doing?” Wyatt asks, looking at Lucy’s empty expression.

 

She meets his eyes and smiles weakly. “How do you think?”

 

Wyatt puts up his arms. “Alright, alright, stupid question.”

 

They fall into silence again for a few minutes, lost in their own thoughts. Wyatt waits for Lucy, knowing that she’ll talk as soon as she’s ready.

 

“Even though I knew it was coming all this time, it shocked me,” she says softly, “Five years ago, when Jiya left and we got together, I told myself I wouldn’t fall in love with him because it would only end in heartbreak. I was an idiot, of course. I loved him anyway.”

 

Wyatt keeps his gentle gaze on her, and he thinks about how even a few years ago hearing her talk about Flynn like this would have caused a flare of jealousy that would drive him to fume in his room for a few hours or something equally dramatic. Now, he goes over to her and puts his arms around her, feeling only an empathetic ache.

 

“It goes without saying that Flynn and I had a rocky start to our relationship,” Wyatt says. Lucy lets out a short laugh as she leans against him. “But you know I understand what you’re feeling right now, because despite previously wanting to kill him and knowing he was going to die, I came to realize there was no one else I would rather have by my side in a fight.”

 

Lucy looks at him tenderly, and she thinks about how the three of them had become a strange sort of family in the last few years. They were all broken people, torn by pain and loss, and they were all desperate to complete their mission, and somewhere along the way they stopped fighting just for themselves and their anger and started fighting for each other.

 

“I don’t know how I’m going to be able to look at him again,” Lucy says, and her voice drops down to a whisper as she continues, “I don’t know if I’m strong enough for that.”

 

Wyatt holds her tighter and says, “Just one more trip, Luce. I know you are strong enough. You’re the strongest of all of us.”

 

She stiffens slightly in his arms and Wyatt notices, cocking an eyebrow at her. “It might be more than just one last trip,” she says. Wyatt looks even more confused than before, and Lucy pulls back and squares her body to face him.

 

“What do you mean?” he asks.

 

Lucy takes a deep breath. “There’s something I have to tell you, and I won’t ask you to forgive me for keeping it from you because I know I don’t deserve your forgiveness.”

 

“You’re scaring me, Lucy,” Wyatt says, looking at her intently.

 

“We lied to you, five years ago. Me and Jiya and Agent Christopher. We told you that when we went back to Pearl Harbor we hadn’t been able to find Jessica and that we ran out of time and had to leave in order to avoid being captured or killed by a bomb.”

 

Wyatt’s expression changes from one of confusion to one of dawning horror.

 

Lucy’s voice starts to break as she continues. “We did find Jessica. She led me to the Mothership and when we discovered it had been destroyed she asked me, begged me to leave her there instead of taking her back to the present as our prisoner. She swore on her child’s life that she wouldn’t meddle with history, and she made me swear not to tell you what had happened to her so that you wouldn’t come looking for her.”

 

Lucy looks at Wyatt, but he can’t meet her eyes.

 

“Jiya found her, Wyatt,” Lucy says, but Wyatt still doesn’t move, “and your son.”

 

His eyes snap up to hers and he breathes in sharply, unable to control the pained expression on his face.

 

“Where?” he asks, voice rough, “When?”

 

“Jiya found a newspaper article from 1947 about a school opening up in a suburb of Los Angeles that was accompanied by a small picture of some of the students, and the caption said one of the young boys was named Charles Logan.”

 

Wyatt’s eyes are red-rimmed, and he sniffs and murmurs, “Charles was my Grandpa Sherwin’s name.”

 

Lucy feels her throat getting tight as she continues, “Jiya dug a bit deeper into census records and ship manifestos and found that Charles Logan and his mother, Mary Logan, arrived in Los Angeles in 1945 on a boat from Hawaii. She is listed as a widow.”

 

“It’s them,” Wyatt says, “Jessica’s mother’s name is Mary.”

 

“I have an address. We can go and find them in 1947,” Lucy says, “And once we go and get them back we can go our separate ways.”

 

Wyatt looks at her in confusion, “What do you mean?”

 

“I’ve been lying to you for the last five years about your wife and son so that you wouldn’t leave the team. I broke the rules, Wyatt. No selfish choices, remember? I was selfish and lied to you to keep you here. I’ll help you get your family back, and then you never have to see me again.” It sounds like Lucy has rehearsed this speech and has been preparing to give it for years. She waits tensely for Wyatt to answer her.

 

“Lucy, there’s nothing to forgive,” he says quietly.

 

Lucy splutters and opens her mouth to continue but Wyatt stops her.

 

“You were only keeping your promise to Jessica, and if you told me this earlier I would have found a way to steal the Lifeboat and abandon the team, and then we may never have saved Rufus at all. You weren’t keeping me from my family, Lucy, you _are_ my family.”

 

For a few moments Lucy is so shocked she is completely speechless. She stares at Wyatt’s calm, if slightly misty-eyed expression in confusion. She stares into his eyes, searching for any anger or betrayal there, but all she finds is acceptance and affection.

 

“You’re not the same man I met seven years ago, Wyatt Logan,” she says.

 

He shakes his head. “And you’re not the same woman.”

 

Lucy thinks back on all those years, back to the moment they met at Mason Industries before they knew about time travel or Rittenhouse or Garcia Flynn. “Are you ready to take two last trips with me?” Lucy asks, smiling.

 

“Yes, ma’am,” Wyatt replies.

 

They both take turns in the shower and change into clothes they haven’t been wearing for multiple days in a row while the Lifeboat charges up. The time slips by quickly, and soon enough the Lifeboat is at full power and Lucy knocks on the door to Wyatt’s room to let him know it’s time to go. They climb in the Lifeboat, and it feels so big and empty with just the two of them in it. Lucy activates the Lifeboat, piloting practically second nature to her, now, and sets their course for Los Angeles 1947.

 

When they climb out of the Lifeboat they are in a flat field, and they can see construction work being done in the distance.

 

“That must be an LA suburb being built,” Lucy says.

 

“Here come the baby boomers,” Wyatt grumbles.

 

Lucy gives him a look and they start walking towards the construction. They eventually find a parked car and break in and hotwire it. The bunker doesn’t have a full wardrobe for each time period, but they do have passible clothes for the late 40s, so they don’t have to stop and steal anything along the way.

 

They navigate by just using the cardinal directions and which roads they can find at first, and then once they reach the city proper they make a quick stop to ask for directions.

 

Once they are heading definitively in the direction of Jessica’s house, Lucy can see Wyatt’s grip on the steering wheel slowly tightening and the muscles in his jaw flexing as he grinds his teeth.

 

“You should relax,” she says, putting a hand on his shoulder.

 

Wyatt unclenches his teeth, but his knuckles are still white with his grip on the wheel. “I don’t really think that’s an option,” he says, shooting Lucy a look, panic in his eyes.

 

“Well, you won’t know how it’s going to go until we get there, so there’s no point in catastrophizing about it now.”

 

He nods a few times and Lucy can see him trying and failing at not thinking about it. “Could you tell me a story?” Wyatt asks.

 

Lucy smiles and makes an affirmative sound. She thinks for a couple seconds before telling him about the first time she ever got drunk in college. It does the job, and Wyatt chuckles at all the funny parts and seems at least marginally distracted. As they continue along the road she keeps finding different stories to tell him, some he’s probably heard before and others he definitely hasn’t, and soon enough they are pulling up to a small white house with blue trim around the windows.

 

Wyatt brings the car to a stop in front of the house, but he doesn’t take his hands off the wheel or park the car. Lucy watches him as he takes a few deep breaths, and then she puts a hand over his on the wheel, snapping him out of his worried trance.

 

They get out together and walk up to the door, and Lucy can hear the grainy sound of music on a gramophone coming from inside the house. She knocks on the door, because she knows Wyatt won’t.

 

The sound of approaching footsteps comes through the door and Lucy pushes down her own nervousness as the door is pulled open. Jessica’s mouth falls open as soon as she sees them, and for a few long moments none of them say anything. Jessica has her hair curled and pinned perfectly in the style of the times and she is wearing a white apron over a violet dress.

 

“Oh,” Jessica finally manages.

 

“Hi, Jessica,” Lucy says, a little sheepishly.

 

Wyatt clears his throat. “Hi.”

 

Jessica looks between the two of them a few times before letting out a small sigh. “Well, come in. No point in you two loitering at the doorway.”

 

She pulls open the door and they step inside. Jessica leads them into her kitchen and gestures for them to sit down at the table. She takes a seat, too, once they are situated. There is another short silence between them, and Lucy waits for Jessica or Wyatt to speak, knowing it isn’t really her place.

 

“I knew this day was coming,” Jessica says at last. She looks over at Lucy. “I knew there was no way you would keep this from Wyatt forever. It was only a matter of time.”

 

“I’m sorry I broke my promise to you, but I did what I thought was right,” Lucy says.

 

“So why now? What’s changed?” Jessica asks.

 

Lucy looks over at Wyatt, deferring to him, and he catches her eye and gets the hint. “Rittenhouse is done,” Wyatt says, “It’s been five years since Chinatown, and in that time we took out every sleeper agent we could find, and arrested any more active agents in the present. After this trip we have one more to make, and then we’re destroying the Lifeboat and ending this, for good.”

 

Jessica regards him for a few moments, and Lucy can tell from her mannerisms that living in the past for nearly six years has changed her. “So, what do you want?” Jessica asks.

 

“I want to meet my son,” Wyatt says, “and I want you both to come back with us to the present.”

 

There is a long moment of silence where Jessica looks at Wyatt and then at Lucy and back at Wyatt again. Lucy crosses and uncrosses her ankles under the table, feeling nervous and jittery. Wyatt doesn’t take his eyes off of Jessica.

 

“Okay,” Jessica says at last.

 

“Okay?” Wyatt asks.

 

“That’s it?” Lucy adds, completely surprised.

 

Jessica rolls her eyes and smiles. “What? Did you think I was going to put up a huge fight? I’ve been alone with my son in the ‘40s for six damn years with only World War II and rampant sexism to keep me company. There’s no way I’m passing up an opportunity to give my son every opportunity he can, and there are definitely more of those in the 21stcentury.”

 

After a beat Lucy says, “I guess that’s settled, then.”

 

“Come with me,” Jessica says to both of them, but she keeps her eyes on Wyatt as she stands before turning to leave the kitchen and go down the hallway. Lucy and Wyatt follow close behind, and Jessica leads them into a room. “Hey buddy!” Jessica says with a bright smile as she goes over to the little boy with bright blue eyes who is sitting on the floor in the center of the room playing with blocks.

 

Wyatt looks like he has been punched in the gut, and Lucy places a hand on his back to steady him.

 

“Charlie, do you recognize this man?” Jessica asks her son gently. The boy shakes his head. Jessica continues, “You’ve seen him in a picture I showed you. This is your dad.” At this, the boy really looks up at over at Wyatt, and with Jessica’s urging he stands and hobbles over in the way little kids do.

 

“Wyatt, meet your son, Charlie.” Jessica straightens up and watches as Charlie goes over to Wyatt and Wyatt kneels down, so he can be at the same level. Charlie reaches up a chubby hand and touches Wyatt’s face.

 

“Daddy?” he says questioningly, and Lucy sees tears gathering in Wyatt’s eyes.

 

“Yeah,” Wyatt says, “I’m your dad.”

 

Lucy thanks every single higher power and deity she can think of as Charlie’s little face breaks into a smile and he says, without needing any more explanation or convincing, “Daddy!” and throws his little arms around Wyatt’s neck.

 

There are tears streaming down Wyatt’s face in earnest as he wraps his arms around his son. Jessica looks on fondly at them, and Lucy can’t see a trace of anger or resentment that they have come and disrupted her life.

 

“Wyatt, why don’t you stay here with Charlie while Lucy and I pack up our things?” Jessica says, and Wyatt looks up at her in alarm.

 

“Uh, I don’t-”

 

“You’ll be fine. He’s a five-year-old, not a hostile militant. You can explain to him where we’re going.” With that, Jessica smiles at them and leaves a dumbfounded Wyatt still kneeling on her floor. “Come on, Lucy,” she calls out, and Lucy follows after throwing an apologetic glance at Wyatt.

 

Lucy hurries after Jessica into another room. Jessica goes into the closet and takes out a backpack and starts wandering through the whole house, picking up a few objects here and there and packing them, mostly teddy bears and other toys.

 

“Should I be helping with anything?” Lucy asks as she follows Jessica around.

 

“Nah, the only things I really need are Charlie’s toys. Everything else can stay here.”

 

“So, why did you want me to come with you?”

 

Jessica stops and turns to face Lucy. “I need to know what I’m getting myself into, and I trust you to be honest with me.”

 

“What do you mean?” Lucy says, eyebrows raised.

 

“Look, I saw lumberjack Wyatt over there in Chinatown, and I knew if he was crazy enough to cross over his own timeline to come and tell me specifically to give up Rittenhouse that he knew something I didn’t. I’ve lived here without Rittenhouse or anyone else for a long time, and my loyalties lie only with my son. Everything I do is for him. I need your word that I will be safe in the present, that I will be able to lead a normal life.”

 

Lucy waits for Jessica to be done and then considers what she’s said. “I broke my promise to you because I knew I could never let Wyatt destroy the Lifeboat without ever meeting his son. As long as you allow Wyatt to be a part of his son’s life, I promise to protect you and Charlie both.”

 

Jessica looks Lucy right in the eyes for a few tense seconds and Lucy gazes back.

 

“Alright,” Jessica says, “Good enough for me.” She cinches the backpack shut and goes back down the hall. When the two women walk in the room, Wyatt and Charlie are sitting on the ground, both playing with the blocks and intensely discussing different types of cars. The resemblance between them strikes Lucy then, and she glances over at Jessica and thinks she has had the same thought.

 

“Charlie, it’s time to go,” Jessica says.

 

Charlie looks up at her and gets up so her can walk over and hug her leg. “Daddy says we are time traveling,” he says excitedly, and Lucy can’t help but laugh, grateful that children are much more willing to believe the impossible than adults.

 

“I assume you two have a car?” Jessica says as she slings the bag around her back and runs her fingers through Charlie’s hair.

 

Wyatt stands up and nods. “As long as the cops haven’t found it yet.”

 

Jessica rolls her eyes.

 

As the four of them walk through the house Charlie turns to look up at Lucy. “Who are you?” he asks.

 

“I’m Lucy,” she says, smiling down at him.

 

He nods with a solemnity only children seem to possess and continues walking, grabbing his mother’s hand as they leave the house and go to the car, thankfully still parked outside. Jessica gives her house one last look before climbing in the car, setting the back down next to her and holding Charlie on her lap.

 

Wyatt hotwires the car again and they get on their way, and he only asks Lucy for directions a few times as they drive towards the Lifeboat. Eventually they reach the point where the roads run out and they have to walk.

 

After a couple minutes Charlie tugs on Wyatt’s pant leg and asks, “Can you carry me, Daddy?”

 

Wyatt once again looks like all the air has been punched out of his lungs, but he bends down and picks Charlie up, setting him on his shoulders and holding his little knees so he stays secure.

 

It doesn’t take them too long to reach the Lifeboat, and when they do Jessica looks up at it and whistles. “I never thought I would be glad to see this old thing,” she says.

 

Lucy opens the door and climbs in. Jessica follows after and then turns to lift Charlie off of Wyatt’s shoulders and into the Lifeboat. He looks around in wonder at all the lights and switches of the interior as Lucy gets settled in the pilot’s seat and starts it up. Wyatt climbs in last and helps Charlie and Jessica get secured in their seats before doing his own buckles.

 

Jessica distracts Charlie by making faces at him as Lucy prepares the Lifeboat to jump. With a sudden lurch they make the jump, hurtling through time for a split second before coming to a shuddering stop.

 

“Ugh, I forgot how jarring that is,” Jessica says as she undoes her buckles. Charlie seems completely unaffected by the jump, and no matter how many times Jessica asks him if he’s okay he just continues to smile and nod.

 

They all climb out of the Lifeboat onto the floor of the bunker.

 

“What now?” Jessica asks.

 

Wyatt looks at Lucy to answer her.

 

“Denise is going to set the two of you up with a place to stay until you can find work and a place of your own. She’ll get you all the official documentation you and Charlie need,” Lucy says.

 

“And what about you two?” Jessica nods at the Lifeboat.

 

“We got one last trip to make,” Wyatt says, looking over at Lucy, “And then we end this.”

 

Lucy looks back at him. “Maybe we can think of it less as an end and more as a new beginning.”

 

“A new beginning,” Jessica says, smiling down at Charlie where he is attached to her leg, “I like that.”

 

“Me, too,” Wyatt says.

 

“Me, three!” Charlie breaks in.

 

The three of them laugh, and Lucy thinks that everything might just actually turn out alright.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tie up all the loose ends!!!!!


	7. Part Seven: The Beginning

Wyatt makes sure Jessica and Charlie make it to Agent Christopher safely and that they are going to be well taken care of until Jessica can get on her feet in the present before returning to the bunker where Lucy has charged up the Lifeboat and prepared for their last trip.

 

“I feel like I should say something,” Wyatt says, “Like a eulogy.”

 

Lucy throws him a look as she unhooks the Lifeboat from the charging cables and rolls the stairs up to the door. She makes a move to walk up the stairs and enter the Lifeboat, but something gives her pause.

 

“What is it?” Wyatt asks, coming to stand next to her.

 

“Will you miss this?” Lucy says, looking up at the Lifeboat with a conflicted expression, and then down at the journal in her hands, now filled with writing and pictures.

 

The corner of Wyatt’s mouth turns up and he reaches over to place a hand on her arm, so she turns and looks at him. “Will I miss being on this team with you? Hell yes,” he says, and Lucy chuckles, “But will I miss constantly nearly dying while traveling through time and living in this goddamn bunker? _Hell_ no.”

 

“When I think back on all the things we’ve seen, all the people we’ve met, I can hardly believe it. I mean, I wish it were under less stressful circumstances, but as a historian there is nothing more amazing than actually experiencing the past.” Lucy looks back at the Lifeboat, almost wistfully.

 

Wyatt looks at her face for a long moment before murmuring, “I think it’s time we stopped living in the past.”

 

Lucy turns back, and she doesn’t have to say anything because everything between them, all the years and the pain and the love, is all wrapped up in her eyes.

 

“Let’s get this over with, then,” she says, and the two of them climb into the Lifeboat.

 

They jump to Sao Paolo, to the date Flynn told Lucy, and Lucy takes a crumpled piece of paper out of her pocket that reads, in Flynn’s slanted script, the name of the bar he will be in. She has kept it in her pocket or tucked into the bodice of a dress on every mission because she couldn’t risk losing it, physically or to time.

 

Lucy opens the door and Wyatt undoes his buckles, ready to jump out, but Lucy stops him with a hand.

 

“I need to do this alone, Wyatt.” He opens his mouth as if to protest but Lucy continues, “I want you to stay here with the Lifeboat, please.”

 

Wyatt closes his mouth and nods. “If you’re not back in three hours I’m coming to find you,” he says.

 

Lucy smiles at him. “I’ll be back, don’t worry.”

 

She exits the Lifeboat and starts making her way through Sao Paolo, journal in hand, her heart growing heavier with every step.

 

-

 

Flynn is sitting in a bar, and he couldn’t tell anyone the name of it or quite how many drinks he’d had, only that he had stumbled in and planned on stumbling out only when he was forced. He stared at his glass, passing his thumb over the rim and trying to focus on the sensation of it rather than the tormented thoughts in his head.

 

When he had walked in a few of the bar patrons had given him suspicious looks, given that he is 6’ 4”, not Brazilian, and looks immediately and unquestionably dangerous, but after a few minutes without starting a brawl they had left him to his drinking and wallowing.

 

He raises his hand and is about to call for another drink when the door opens and a woman enters, eyes searching the room for a moment before her gaze falls on him and doesn’t waver. Flynn can tell by the way she looks at him that she knows who he is, but he has never seen her before in his life.

 

Her brown hair is cut at chin level, framing her delicate features and highlighting the planes of her neck and collarbones, but Flynn would not use the word delicate to describe the rest of her. He reaches surreptitiously for the gun in his side holster as she comes closer, and as she walks he can see she also has a gun in a holster under her jacket, another one on an ankle holster tucked into her sturdy boot, and what looks like multiple knives in tiny sheaths in her waistband. Everything about this woman screams dangerous except the look in her eyes. Flynn wracks his brain, trying to think of when he would have met this woman before, because she is looking at him with an intensity and a tenderness that catches him completely off guard.

 

He tightens his grip on his sidearm as she reaches the table and sits down across from him, setting down a leather-bound journal monogrammed with the initials ‘LP’ in the bottom left-hand corner.

 

“Hello, Garcia,” she says simply.

 

“Who are you?” Flynn replies, voice low and dangerous.

 

The woman has both of her hands on the table, framing the journal, and she makes no move towards any of her weapons despite Flynn’s hostility.

 

“My name is Lucy Preston, and I’m here to give you a gift.”

 

_Lucy Preston_ , he thinks. She’s obviously American, and although she is armed and dangerous, she doesn’t move or act like a government agent of any kind. She knows his name and she knew where to find him, so he concludes that she must be part of Rittenhouse, here to finish the job.

 

Flynn stands up abruptly and grabs her arm and drags her down a hall and pushes open a door which opens onto a flight of stairs. He draws his gun and points it at her, nudging it against her back so she walks down the stairs and into the bar’s storage area. They are surrounded by bottles of beer and liquor, and the basement has a distinct smell of mildew.

 

“I’m not Rittenhouse,” Lucy Preston says, as if reading his mind.

 

He doesn’t move his gun from where it is pointed at her forehead.

 

“I’m here to help you stop Rittenhouse,” she continues, “and to avenge the deaths of your wife, Lorena, and your daughter, Iris.”

 

“How do you know their names?” Flynn growls. “Who are you?”

 

“I know about Lorena and Iris, and about Rittenhouse, because I am from the future. Your future, actually.”

 

Flynn doesn’t move his gun an inch. “Explain,” he says.

 

Lucy doesn’t break eye contact as she begins to explain. “As we speak, Connor Mason, of Mason industries, is finishing up the final touches on his time machine. Yes, time travel is real, yes, Rittenhouse is tied up in it. I want you to go and steal that time machine and use it to travel through time, attacking Rittenhouse throughout history. There is a man at Mason Industries you should contact, Anthony Bruhl. He will help you. All the details are in here.” Lucy holds up the journal.

 

Flynn narrows his eyes at her. “How do you expect me to believe any of this?” he asks.

 

“I didn’t really,” Lucy says, opening up the journal and flipping through until she finds a specific page, “Read this, and tell me I’m lying to you.”

 

She holds out the journal to him, and all of Flynn’s instincts are screaming at him to just shoot her and run away, but there is something in her eyes that gives him pause. He keeps his gun trained on her and extends his other hand. Lucy walks forward with her arms raised and hands him the journal, making sure it remains open to the page she has found.

 

“I’m not going to hurt you,” she says, as if the fact is obvious, “and I won’t try and run away if you lower your weapon.”

 

Flynn regards her coldly, but he can tell she is telling the truth, so he lowers his gun and returns it to its holster. He gives her another look before turning to the journal, and as he reads he nearly forgets about the woman in the room.

 

The passage in the journal describes, in perfect detail, the events leading up to and after the attack on his home where Rittenhouse murdered his wife and daughter. At the end it reads, _Everything Flynn does is motivated by these deaths. He will not stop until Rittenhouse has been completely eradicated._

 

He feels a prickly feeling behind his eyes as he looks up from the journal and back at the woman standing across from him. She once again has that maddeningly tender expression on her face, and he has the strange feeling that she can see inside his head, that she knows everything about him.

 

“How do you know this?” Flynn says.

 

“I know all of this because you told me, or you will tell me, rather. I am from your future, and I have come back to give you my journal because it is your key to stopping Rittenhouse. Everything you need to know is written on those pages.” She looks suddenly sad. “The next time you see me it will be the first time for me. I won’t have the faintest idea who you are or what your motivations are.”

 

“So, what you’re telling me is that you have traveled here from the future in a time machine to help me stop Rittenhouse. Why me?”

 

Lucy looks directly into his eyes, and Flynn feels like she is laying him bare, seeing into his very soul. “Because you’re the only one who can.”

 

“There’s something you’re not telling me,” Flynn says, because he can see the emotion brewing behind her eyes and he knows she is holding back from him. Lucy looks at him sadly and takes a deep breath.

 

“You’re just going to have to wait and see.”

 

Lucy walks forward and Flynn steps out of the way, so she can access the stairs. She looks at him again, and Flynn thinks he sees her eyes flick down to his lips for just a split second.

 

“Then I look forward to meeting you again,” Flynn says.

 

She pauses, and it seems like she is holding back tears as she forces a small smile. “Goodbye, Garcia,” she says, and then walks up the stairs and out of the room.

 

Flynn listens to her retreating footsteps before also exiting the basement and then the bar. Lucy Preston is nowhere to be found on the street. He looks down at the journal in his hands and flips through the pages. It is filled with pasted in pictures and writing, all in the same handwriting. He flips it shut and examines the cover. _LP_ , he thinks, _until we meet again, Lucy Preston_.

 

He starts down the street, ready to get to work destroying Rittenhouse.

 

-

 

Lucy can’t seem to stop crying as she makes her way back to the Lifeboat, and although she manages to pull it together before she sets her eyes on Wyatt, he takes in her red eyes and drawn expression and pulls her into a hug.

 

“I just miss him _so much_ ,” she says into his shoulder, and Wyatt nods.

 

“How was it, seeing him?” he asks.

 

Lucy pulls back from the hug. “I’ve been through so much that I never would have dreamed of being able to survive in the last seven years. I have been shot and beaten, and I have watched the people I love get hurt and killed, but none of it holds a goddamn candle to looking directly into the eyes of the man I love and him not even recognizing me.”

 

Wyatt looks back at her, and he feels the way he always does when they enter into the realm of talking about their feelings, like he’s standing on quicksand. He got over himself a long time ago, but he never quite stopped loving Lucy, and he doesn’t think he ever really could, but she didn’t need that from him, so he stepped back and gave her and Flynn space while he sorted through his own complicated emotions.

 

“I’m so sorry, Lucy,” he says, “If you tell anyone I said this I’ll deny it, but I miss him, too.”

 

At this Lucy lets out a chuckle and smiles at him before her expression softens and she looks at him fondly. “I know, Wyatt.”

 

They both climb into the Lifeboat, knowing it’s the last time, and Lucy takes them back to the present.

 

When they arrive, Lucy gathers up all of Connor and Jiya’s notes and places them in the Lifeboat. Wyatt rigs up explosives around the interior and exterior of the Lifeboat and on all of the computers which contain data about the Lifeboat systems. Loath as he was to admit it, even Connor came to see that time travel was too dangerous a tool for anyone to use, and that all traces of his work should be destroyed.

 

Lucy and Wyatt have already packed their things and Agent Christopher has made arrangements for places for them to stay for the time being. After six years of living in the bunker they are going to return to the real world.

 

“Ready?” Wyatt asks, holding the detonator in one hand and his duffel bag in the other.

 

“Ready,” Lucy replies, and Wyatt presses the trigger.

 

The Lifeboat explodes spectacularly, causing the entire bunker to shake, and destroying every trace of what the last seven years of their lives has revolved around.

 

Lucy and Wyatt give the bunker one last look before opening the door and climbing out into the sun.


	8. Part Eight: The End

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is! The last chapter! This is more of an epilogue than a true chapter. I hope you enjoy :).

“Come on Jiya! Connor is going to be here in five minutes!” Rufus calls out as he waits by the door.

 

“I’m coming!” Jiya yells from their bedroom.

 

Rufus waits another two minutes, tapping his toe impatiently and constantly checking the time. He is about to go in there and just pick Jiya up and carry her out the door when she emerges into the living room.

 

She is wearing a sleeveless maroon shirt with a plunging neckline tucked into a pair of flowing pants that cinch around her waist. Her hair is piled on top of her head with just a couple of pieces artfully hanging around her face. He looks at her, speechless. Even after all these years he still doesn’t know what he did to deserve this beautiful woman.

 

“You look amazing,” he says, his previous irritation completely gone.

 

She smiles and goes over to him, giving him a peck on the lips. “You don’t look so bad yourself, handsome.”

 

Rufus leans forward and kisses her again, bringing his arms around her waist and opening his mouth into the kiss. Jiya reciprocates enthusiastically, and Rufus starts to think that maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if they were just a bit late to dinner when they hear a car horn honk outside the window just as Rufus’ phone starts vibrating with a call.

 

He and Jiya both sigh as they pull apart. Rufus answers the call and says, “We’re coming, Connor” before hanging up immediately.

 

Jiya places one more gentle kiss on his lips before taking his hand and walking out of their apartment.

 

-

 

Denise walks briskly through each room in her house, searching thoroughly in all the usual places for her cell phone. She is constantly leaving it places, but usually she can just retrace her steps and find it on a shelf or in a couch cushion. However, today it is nowhere to be found.

 

She checks her watch and sees that even if she left right that instant she would probably still be late for dinner.

 

“Honey?” she hears Michelle say from inside the kitchen.

 

“Yes?” she replies, following her wife’s voice.

 

Michelle is standing next to the open refrigerator with a bemused expression on her face, holding Denise’s phone in her hand. “You always get more scatterbrained this time of year, but really? Leaving your phone in the produce drawer?”

 

Denise sighs and comes forward, kissing Michelle on the cheek and taking the phone out of her hand. “I guess I just had other things on my mind. Now, I really have to get going.”

 

“I know,” Michelle says, smiling and leaning forward to kiss her wife lightly on the lips, “Make sure to tell everyone ‘hello’ from me and the kids.”

 

“I will,” Denise says as she walks out the door.

 

“And ask Rufus and Jiya if they’ve been using their wedding gift!” Michelle calls after her.

 

“I will!” Denise calls over her shoulder as she rushes out the door and into her car, mentally planning out a route where they won’t be any cops watching for speeders.

 

-

 

Wyatt drives down the highway, occasionally glancing in his mirrors.

 

“Dad, you know I’m old enough to ride in the front seat, right? I’m not five years old anymore,” Charlie says.

 

Wyatt looks in the rearview mirror and meets his son’s eyes. “You know the rules. No riding shotgun until you’re twelve.”

 

“But, Dad!” Charlie says, the tone of his voice edging on whining, “I know the name of every part inside this car. I could fix just about anything wrong with it, but I still can’t ride in front with you?”

 

“Just because you know how to fix a busted engine doesn’t mean you’re all grown up, kid,” Wyatt says.

 

Charlie pouts for a few seconds before he realizes that his dad isn’t going to give him any leeway for it. “I wish I could come to your fancy dinner tonight. Rufus always lets me borrow the best video games when I see him.”

 

“You see Rufus all the time,” Wyatt says, “and besides, you know this dinner is grown-ups only.”

 

“I know, I know,” Charlie grumbles.

 

“I’m sure your mom has something fun planned.” Wyatt flips on his turn signal and exits the highway. After another few minutes they pull up outside of Jessica’s house and Charlie unbuckles himself and gets out of the car. “I’ll tell everyone you said ‘hi’,” Wyatt says.

 

“Okay, Dad. I’ll see you!” Charlie says as he runs up to the door. Jessica pulls it open before he gets there, having seen them pull up, and she waves at Wyatt before ushering Charlie in and closing the door.

 

Wyatt smiles at the door for a moment, hand raised in a goodbye wave, before putting the car back in drive and turning around.

 

-

 

Lucy hums to herself as she puts on her makeup and does her hair. She has always found it a bit funny that they got all dressed up just to see each other, but tradition was tradition and she is happy to make this night special.

 

She had just seen Rufus and Jiya about a week ago because they came over for game night, but she hadn’t seen Denise or Connor in a couple months. Their lives were busy with their different jobs and children, and this dinner had become pretty much the only time they all got together anymore.

 

Lucy finishes getting ready and steps into the bedroom, sitting down on the bed and opening the drawer on her bedside table. In it she only keeps two things, her old journal and a picture. She barely thinks about them anymore, but what they symbolize rarely ever leaves her mind. The picture is tucked into the front cover of the journal and Lucy opens it up and draws it out. It’s the only concrete reminder of Garcia she has left, a slightly grainy picture of him that Denise had managed to get for her.

 

Each year they get together on the anniversary of the destruction of the Lifeboat, but to Lucy she is always reminded more strongly that it’s the anniversary of Flynn’s death.

 

She still feels his absence like a dull ache, though she has been able to move on with her life. Lucy doesn’t think she’ll ever stop missing him. The pain isn’t nearly as sharp as it was in the beginning, and she can talk about him without getting lost in her pain, but she still aches for him, especially on this night when they all gather together.

 

Lucy hears the door open and she blinks a few times, drawing herself out of her thoughts. Wyatt comes in the bedroom, home from dropping off Charlie, and his gaze immediately drops to the picture in her hands.

 

He comes over and sits down next to her, slinging his arm around her waist and looking down at the picture.

 

“Can you believe it’s been five years?” he murmurs gently.

 

“Feels like yesterday,” Lucy says as she leans into him.

 

He presses a kiss to her forehead. At first, back when they had left the bunker and gone to live in separate apartments, more often than not one of them would show up at the other’s door in the middle of the night because of nightmares or loneliness. They had lived together for so long that being alone all the time was too much for either of them, and when they were together the hole left by Garcia’s absence felt just a bit less gaping.

 

She knew Wyatt still loved her, it was plain to see in all of his words and actions, and Lucy came slowly to realize that falling back to Wyatt didn’t mean she loved Garcia any less. Neither of them was ever going to find another person who understood what they had gone through, and after a year or so Lucy realized she didn’t want to find another person at all.

 

“I love you,” Lucy says into Wyatt’s shoulder.

 

“I love you, too,” Wyatt replies, and they hold each other for a few minutes, both of their thoughts years away.

 

After a while, Wyatt pulls back slightly. “We should get going or we’ll be late. I have a bet with Rufus on who’s going to arrive last this year and I refuse to lose.”

 

Lucy chuckles and looks up so she can press a kiss to his lips, reaching up to rub the lipstick off his mouth with her thumb once she pulls away. “Let’s get going, then.”

 

-

 

Connor walks into the restaurant behind Rufus and Jiya, letting them lead the way to their table. He spots Wyatt and Lucy and smiles, and he hears Rufus let out an expletive as he digs through his pockets and removes his wallet.

 

Wyatt and Lucy stand up to give them all hugs, and Rufus begrudgingly pulls out a ten-dollar bill from his wallet and hands it to Wyatt. “I got you next year, man,” he grumbles.

 

Wyatt chuckles and pulls him into a hug. “Whatever you say.”

 

They all sit down and start to catch up, the atmosphere light. Connor spots Denise first when she enters, walking briskly towards their table, and he stands up to greet her.

 

“Sorry I’m late,” she says.

 

Everyone assures her that they all just arrived and stand up to greet her warmly. Once they all take their seats the waiter comes over and they order a couple bottles of wine.

 

When they all have full glasses of wine in front of them, Denise raises hers and says, “A toast.” She waits for the rest of the table to raise theirs, too, before she continues. “To our family, for the ones we have lost and for those who are all still here.”

 

They clink their glasses together, but don’t set them down yet. Everyone looks expectantly at Lucy. “To Garcia Flynn,” she says, “and to living in the present, not the past.”

 

“To Flynn,” they all murmur and clink their glasses again.

 

“To the future,” Rufus says, and everyone nods, this time all taking a drink and setting down their glasses.

 

Connor looks around at them all and can’t quite believe his luck. Despite all the turmoil and hardship they had to go through to get here, they all managed to make it through and come out stronger. He surreptitiously wipes his eye as he feels himself being overwhelmed by how much he loves them all.

 

Rufus notices and puts a hand on his shoulder, shooting him an understanding smile.

 

They all return to more light-hearted conversation, laughing and sharing each other’s company, no longer a team, but forever a family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone who read my story. As always, kudos and comments are greatly loved and appreciated. I have to thank by wonderful amazing friend Isabelle once again for being such an amazing editor throughout this process.
> 
> If you liked my fic, consider reblogging on Tumblr: http://thislesbianlovesbuckybarnes.tumblr.com/post/177503065362/show-chapter-archive
> 
>  
> 
> Time Team forever.


End file.
